Malaysian bank lending rises 5% on more business loans

Business loans rose 4% whilst household loans grew 5.6%.

Malaysian bank lending grew by 5% year-on-year (YoY) in January 2026 on more business and household loans.

Overall credit to the private non-financial sector grew by 5.5% on the back of more outstanding corporate bonds, according to data from the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).

Business loans rose 4% in January, extending the 3.9% growth recorded in December 2025, on the back of more investment-related loans particularly amongst non-small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Household loan growth was 5.6%, the same as in December.

Banks reported excess capital buffers of MYR139.6b as of January, whilst gross and net impaired loan ratios were at 1.4% and 0.9%, respectively.