Malaysian Trustees Berhad
Corporations and issuers needing an established, bank-backed trustee for conventional bond or Islamic sukuk issuance in Malaysia.
Trustee Footprint Index
73/100A reproducible score of public-record footprint and disclosure, not fees, quality or suitability. See the methodology. Disclosed scale is often self-reported.
| Category | Corporate & bond trustee |
| Ownership | RHB Banking Group (RHB Bank Berhad and RHB Investment Bank Berhad, with RHB nominee companies and OSK Futures and Options as registered shareholders) |
| Established | 1975 |
| Headquarters | Kuala Lumpur |
| Licensing | Registered trust company under the Trust Companies Act 1949; registered bond/debenture trustee with the Securities Commission Malaysia under the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 |
| Scale | Not disclosed for AUM. In league-table terms, Malaysian Trustees Berhad has ranked among the top corporate bond and sukuk trustees in Malaysia. Quarterly data reported it as the top bond trustee by value (about RM48.58 billion) and by number of issues (107) and the top sukuk trustee by value (about RM46.25 billion) for the fourth quarter of 2023. |
| Best for | Corporations and issuers needing an established, bank-backed trustee for conventional bond or Islamic sukuk issuance in Malaysia. |
Malaysian Trustees Berhad (company no. 21666-V / 197501000080) was incorporated in Malaysia on 25 January 1975 and is registered as a trust company under the Trust Companies Act 1949. It is one of the older institutional trustees in the country and works almost entirely in the capital markets rather than in retail estate planning. The company organises its work into three lines: trustee for private debt securities, both conventional and Islamic (sukuk); trustee for debt-restructuring exercises; and corporate trustee services covering custodian and stakeholder/escrow-agent roles. Its role in a bond or sukuk issue is the standard statutory one under Section 258 of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007: it enters into the trust deed, represents and protects the interests of bondholders or sukukholders, and acts as the focal point between the issuer and the holders, including in an event of default.
The premise that Malaysian Trustees Berhad belongs to the AmanahRaya or Amanah lineage does not hold. It is part of the RHB Banking Group. The registered shareholders are RHB Bank Berhad, RHB Investment Bank Berhad, RHB Nominees (Tempatan) Sdn Bhd, RHB Nominees (Asing) Sdn Bhd and OSK Futures and Options Sdn Bhd. The RHB link runs through the 2012 merger of OSK Investment Bank with RHB Capital: on 9 November 2012 OSK Holdings completed the disposal of its 20% equity interest in Malaysian Trustees Berhad to RHB Capital Berhad, folding the company into the enlarged RHB group. Within that group it sits alongside RHB Trustees Berhad (formerly OSK Trustees), which carries more of the personal trust and estate-planning work, while Malaysian Trustees Berhad concentrates on corporate debt trusteeship.
On scale, the company does not publicly disclose assets under trust, staff numbers or financials, which is typical for this segment. Its standing is best seen in the bond-market league tables, where it repeatedly appears at or near the top of Malaysia's bond and sukuk trustee rankings. Reported quarterly data placed it as the top bond trustee by value (about RM48.58 billion) and by number of issues (107) and the top sukuk trustee by value (about RM46.25 billion) for the fourth quarter of 2023. Its stated client base spans highway concessions, oil and gas, manufacturing, banking, energy and construction. Note that Malaysian Trustees Berhad is a distinct entity from the similarly named MTrustee Berhad, an independent Rockwills-linked trustee, and from AmanahRaya Trustees Berhad, the government-owned trustee; the three are sometimes confused in search results.
Services
- Trustee for conventional private debt securities (corporate bonds and debentures)
- Trustee for Islamic private debt securities (sukuk)
- Bondholder and sukukholder representation under the trust deed
- Security trustee and security agent for secured issues
- Trustee for debt-restructuring exercises
- Custodian services
- Stakeholder and escrow agent services
Strengths
- Backed by RHB Banking Group, one of Malaysia's largest banking groups, giving institutional balance-sheet strength and reach
- Long track record since 1975 as one of the established names in Malaysian bond and sukuk trusteeship
- Consistently ranks among the top corporate bond and sukuk trustees by value and by number of issues
- Handles both conventional bonds and Islamic sukuk, plus custodian, escrow, security-agent and debt-restructuring roles
- Full Securities Commission registration to act as a bond and debenture trustee under the CMSA
Watch-outs
- Focused on institutional and corporate debt-securities trusteeship; individual estate planning and private trusts sit with the sister firm RHB Trustees Berhad
- Opaque public presence: no dedicated standalone website and little disclosure of assets under trust, staff numbers or financials
- Bank-owned rather than independent, so issuers should weigh potential group conflicts of interest
- Consumer-facing information is scarce; most detail lives in bond prospectuses and SC filings rather than public marketing