KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian households’ gross financial assets grew 6.2% in 2025, slowing from 8.7% a year earlier and trailing both regional and global growth, according to the Allianz Global Wealth Report 2026.
The report said Malaysia’s gross household financial assets reached €769bil in 2025, with growth below the 9.8% average among surveyed Asian countries excluding Japan and China, as well as the global average of 8.6%.
Insurance and pension assets led the increase, rising 11.1%, while securities grew 2.8% and deposits increased 2.3%.
“As a result, life and pensions and deposits remained the dominating asset classes, with deposits and savings held in the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) accounting for 68% of total financial assets,” it said.
After adjusting for inflation, Malaysian household financial assets grew 4.7% in real terms, moderating from 6.7% in 2024.
Since 2019, they have increased by a cumulative 21.9% in real terms, compared with the regional average of 39.6% and global average of 22.9%.
Household liabilities, meanwhile, rose 5.6% to €360bil, growing at a slower pace than assets.
This lifted net financial assets by 6.7% to €409bil.
Malaysia ranked 39th globally in 2025, with net financial assets of €11,370 per capita.
Globally, household financial assets increased 8.6% to a record €268.4 trillion in 2025, with financial markets rather than new savings driving most of the increase.
Allianz Research estimated that rising asset prices accounted for about four out of every five euros of new household wealth during the year, while fresh savings fell 5.4% to €4.1 trillion.
“Global wealth set another record in 2025, but that only tells half of the story,” said Ludovic Subran, chief economist and chief investment officer at Allianz.
“Since 2019, nominal financial assets are up 50%, but in real terms, stripped of inflation, they only grew 23%.
“The situation is worse in Western Europe where financial assets in real terms are up 0.5% compared to 2019. It is 21% in North America and 70% in China.”
Securities recorded the strongest growth among major asset classes, rising 12.4%, compared with 5.7% for deposits and 5% for insurance and pensions. Their share of global financial assets reached a record 46.9%.
Looking ahead, Allianz Research expects global financial assets to grow about 9% in 2026, although it cautioned that slower economic growth, persistent inflation, economic fragmentation and high public debt could weigh on the medium-term outlook.
It also identified artificial intelligence as a key factor for future wealth creation, with stronger productivity and corporate earnings potentially supporting asset returns.
However, it cautioned that greater reliance on AI-related market gains could leave household wealth more exposed to a correction in equity valuations.
Allianz Research estimated that a 25% correction in the S&P 500 could wipe about US$27 trillion from US household wealth in the year of the shock, equivalent to almost 14% of total net worth.
