Key Points of the Announcement
- Regulatory Approval: CIMB has been officially green-lit by BNM to test regulated digital asset payment and settlement use cases within the Digital Asset Innovation Hub (DAIH).
- The “Tokenised Sukuk” Pilot: A major highlight is CIMB’s plan to explore the tokenisation of its own Sukuk issuance. This involves digitising Islamic bonds to make them more efficient, transparent, and easier to trade.
- Tokenised Deposits: CIMB is testing “tokenised deposit representations.” Unlike volatile cryptocurrencies, these are digital versions of traditional bank deposits used to settle transactions at “machine speed” within the regulated system.+1
- Strategic Alignment: This initiative is a core component of CIMB’s Forward30 strategy, a six-year roadmap designed to future-proof the bank through digital automation and modernised core technology.
- Infrastructure Evolution: The bank aims to incorporate stablecoins and tokenised value into its payment rails, subject to ongoing regulatory oversight and Shariah-compliance assessments.
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 (Bernama) — CIMB Group Holdings Berhad (“CIMB” or “the Group”) today announced that it has received approval from Bank Negara Malaysia (“BNM”) to participate in the central bank’s Digital Asset Innovation Hub (“DAIH”), enabling the Group to test regulated digital asset payment and settlement use cases within a supervised ecosystem.
CIMB’s participation reinforces its commitment to Advancing Customers and Society, bringing forward innovation that strengthens Malaysia’s financial infrastructure and positions the country to compete more effectively on the global stage. The DAIH provides a structured platform for financial institutions to evaluate digital asset applications under defined safeguards covering governance, risk management, and regulatory compliance. CIMB’s participation reflects its continued engagement with BNM in supporting the development of resilient, future-ready financial market infrastructure, including the evolution of next-generation payment and settlement rails in Malaysia.
As part of its participation in the DAIH, CIMB will explore the tokenisation of its own sukuk issuance and the use of tokenised deposit representations to support end-toend payment and settlement workflows within approved testing parameters. Tokenised deposits are envisaged as a foundational settlement layer for tokenised instruments, enabling issuance, transfer, and settlement processes in a more integrated and automated manner. These initiatives build on CIMB’s earlier announcement outlining its strategic intent to apply tokenisation to enhance efficiency, transparency, and accessibility across capital markets, while remaining firmly anchored within the regulated financial system.
More broadly, CIMB views tokenisation as an enabling layer for the future of payment and settlement infrastructure, allowing different forms of regulated digital value to interact securely and efficiently. The Group intends to modernise the payments infrastructure to incorporate digital representations of value, including tokenized deposits and stablecoins, subject to regulatory alignment, risk considerations, and use-case suitability.
Through the DAIH, CIMB will holistically evaluate bank-grade tokenisation across issuance, payment, and settlement processes, with a focus on operational readiness, controls, and market infrastructure design. The programme is expected to generate practical insights into operating models, risk management practices, and standards that could support broader ecosystem preparedness for regulated digital asset adoption.
Novan Amirudin, Group Chief Executive Officer of CIMB Group said “Participation in BNM’s Digital Asset Innovation Hub allows us to examine how tokenisation can support the next phase of payment and settlement infrastructure in a safe and regulated manner. Our focus is on building robust capabilities, controls, and operating readiness so that new forms of digital value can be integrated into the financial system responsibly. This is a foundational step in providing clients with trusted access to digital capital markets and settlement networks, consistent with our Forward30 strategy, translating innovation into real market outcomes that advance customers and society.”
CIMB’s participation in the DAIH will focus on building operational readiness and generating practical insights that support the development of common standards, controls, and market practices. By working closely with regulators and ecosystem participants, CIMB aims to help lay the groundwork for the next phase of Malaysia’s capital market and payment infrastructure evolution.
Why It Matters to ASEAN
- Islamic Finance Leadership: By tokenising Sukuk, Malaysia is defending its title as the world’s leading Islamic finance hub. Success here sets the standard for Shariah-compliant digital assets across the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the broader ASEAN region.
- Cross-Border Settlement Efficiency: ASEAN is pushing for integrated payment connectivity. CIMB’s work on tokenised deposits could eventually allow for near-instant, low-cost cross-border settlements between its branches in Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore, bypassing traditional, slow correspondent banking networks.
- Modernising Capital Markets: The tokenisation of assets reduces the “middleman” costs of issuing and trading securities. For ASEAN’s emerging capital markets (like Vietnam and Cambodia), the “CIMB-BNM model” serves as a blueprint for leapfrogging legacy infrastructure.
Editor’s Take
This is the moment “Crypto” grows up and becomes “Digital Finance.” By moving tokenisation into a central bank-supervised hub, CIMB and BNM are stripping away the volatility associated with digital assets and focusing on the efficiency of the plumbing. The real prize here isn’t the technology itself, but the reduction of “settlement lag.” In traditional banking, moving millions of dollars in Sukuk can take days of paperwork. In a tokenised environment, it happens in seconds. For corporate treasurers and institutional investors in ASEAN, this represents a massive unlock in liquidity. CIMB is effectively building the “Express Lane” for the Malaysian capital market.