Malaysian household financial assets are RM3,665.0 billion — 68% sits in EPF and deposits, but the split is not published
Bank Negara Malaysia publishes a total for household financial assets and one combined share for EPF savings and deposits. The split between them, and the full instrument composition, are not published by any agency.
How large are Malaysian household financial assets?
RM3,665.0 billion at the end of December 2025, on Bank Negara Malaysia’s preliminary figure (Financial Stability Review 2H 2025, Annex Table A.1).
How large are Malaysian household financial assets?
Financial assets (RM bn)
Shared linear scale from zero. Selected entries from the table below. Its dates, units, definitions and limitations still apply.
| Period | Financial assets (RM bn) | Household debt (RM bn) | Assets ÷ debt | Financial assets ÷ GDP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2H 2023 | 3,176.8 | 1,534.7 | — | 174.16% |
| 1H 2024 | 3,300.1 | 1,573.5 | — | 175.68% |
| 2H 2024 | 3,452.3 | 1,625.2 | — | 178.66% |
| 1H 2025 | 3,478.5 | 1,666.4 | — | 177.03% |
| 2H 2025 (preliminary) | 3,665.0 | 1,715.6 | 2.1 times | 181.15% |
Malaysia occupies an unusual position among the nine markets in this series: the total is published, the contents are not.
The 68% figure, and what it hides
BNM states in the same report that savings held in the EPF and deposits together accounted for 68% of total financial assets (June 2025: 68.4%).
That is one number covering two very different things. Deposits can be withdrawn at will; EPF savings are governed by withdrawal rules tied to age and purpose. In every other market that publishes a full composition, the two sit on separate lines — and the gap between them is large. In Singapore, CPF alone is 31.21% and currency and deposits 32.36%, almost exactly the same size. Without the Malaysian split, there is no way to know whether the ordering here is similar or very different.
Neither BNM, DOSM nor the EPF publishes that split, and there is no full instrument composition of Malaysian household financial assets anywhere. This article does not estimate one. The FSR data pack does name the five components BNM places inside the aggregate — EPF savings, deposits, unit trust funds, domestic equity holdings and insurance policies at surrender value — but only as contributions to annual growth in percentage points, not as level shares. Growth contributions cannot be read as composition shares.
The components that are published separately
The figures below exist, but each comes from a different publication with its own definition and coverage.
| End of period | Individuals’ deposits, banking system (RM m) | Life insurance fund assets (RM m) | PNB assets under management (RM bn) |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 2015 | 612,075.73 | 200,521.2 | 254.6 |
| December 2019 | 745,488.55 | 254,755.7 | 312.0 |
| December 2024 | 935,410.51 | 328,031.3 | 348.3 |
| December 2025 | 949,344.18 | 344,594.6 | 365.3 |
| July 2026 | 955,945.31 | — | — |
For the EPF, total members’ savings stood at RM1,246.06 billion at 31 December 2024 on its annual report financial statements. The 2025 annual report has not been published, so there is no comparable end-2025 figure.
These columns cannot be added together and cannot be divided into RM3,665.0 billion. The reasons are specific: "Individuals" is a holder class in banking system deposit statistics, which BNM has not declared identical to the deposits component in its household financial assets aggregate, and Table 1.25 is in fact titled "Total Deposits and Repurchase Agreement by Holder"; life insurance fund assets are insurers' balance sheets, not household claims; and PNB's assets under management include unit holders other than individuals, the EPF among them. KWAP figures are not listed here because it is a government pension fund whose members hold no individual balance.
The markets that do publish a full composition
| Market | Reference | Currency & deposits | Debt securities | Equity & funds | Insurance & pension | Other | Sector definition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | end-March 2026 | 47.22% | 1.52% | 23.63% | 24.48% | 3.15% | households incl. unincorporated business |
| Taiwan | end-2024 | 34.78% | 0.25% | 26.10% | 26.12% | 12.74% | households & non-profit institutions |
| Singapore | 2026 Q2 | 32.36% | — | 20.19% | 47.45% | — | households |
| Korea | 2025 Q2 | 45.23% | 3.25% | 22.52% | 28.18% | 0.83% | households & NPISH |
| United States | end-March 2026 | 10.7% | 4.3% | 56.7% | 25.7% | 2.5% | households & nonprofits (BOJ basis) |
| Euro area | end-March 2026 | 31.1% | 2.8% | 37.6% | 26.5% | 2.0% | households & NPISH (BOJ basis) |
Malaysia has no row here, and neither do Hong Kong, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia or Vietnam. For Malaysia the reason is the missing split; for the other five, the household balance sheet itself is not compiled. A blank means a data-coverage gap, not a zero. For Japan, the US and the euro area the equity-and-funds column adds the "equity" and "investment trusts" lines of the same Bank of Japan comparison table — a sum of published items from one table and one vintage, not an estimate.
The 68% BNM does publish is high enough to establish that EPF and deposits together dominate the Malaysian household balance sheet. That is consistent with markets that run large mandatory contribution schemes: in Singapore, CPF and deposits together are 63.57% in 2026 Q2. But without the split, nothing can be said about how much of it could be withdrawn tomorrow. This paragraph is interpretation; the figures in the tables are observations from published statistics.
What to check when reading these numbers
Check whether a figure has its denominator. RM955,945.31 million of individuals’ deposits is a level, not a share. Dividing it by RM3,665.0 billion would produce a plausible-looking number that means nothing, because the two are not published as parts of one table.
Check growth contributions against level shares. The FSR data pack gives percentage points of annual growth by component — EPF savings 4.13, deposits 0.42, unit trust funds 0.98, domestic equity 0.31, insurance 0.30 in December 2025. That explains where 6.16% growth came from, not how the balance is arranged.
Check stock against flow. Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia publish flow-of-funds accounts containing only transactions. How much was added in a year and how much is held are different measurements.
Finally, do not read a high deposit share as a verdict. It is the distribution of where assets sit, and in Malaysia a large part of it is set by a mandatory contribution scheme rather than by daily choice.
Questions & answers
How large are Malaysian household financial assets?
RM3,665.0 billion at the end of December 2025 on Bank Negara Malaysia's preliminary figure. The same half-yearly series gives RM3,176.8 billion (2H 2023), RM3,300.1 billion (1H 2024), RM3,452.3 billion (2H 2024) and RM3,478.5 billion (1H 2025).
How much of that is in deposits?
Not published. BNM gives only a combined figure: EPF savings and deposits together were 68% of total financial assets in December 2025, against 68.4% in June 2025. Neither BNM nor DOSM nor the EPF publishes the split between the two.
How much do individuals hold in banking system deposits?
RM955,945.31 million in July 2026, up from RM612,075.73 million at the end of 2015 (BNM, Table 1.25). Note this is the 'Individuals' holder class in banking deposit statistics, which BNM has not declared to be the same universe as the deposits component inside its household financial assets aggregate.
How does Malaysia compare with other Asian markets?
A direct comparison cannot be made because Malaysia's composition is not published. Among the markets that do publish it, the currency-and-deposits share is 47.22% in Japan at end-March 2026, 34.78% in Taiwan at end-2024 and 32.36% in Singapore in 2026 Q2.