Kuala lumpur: The establishment of the Consumer Credit Commission is seen as a crucial step in protecting consumers by regulating and supervising non-bank credit and credit service providers, including buy now pay later (BNPL) providers. This initiative aims to address the previously unregulated sector and ensure consumer protection.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) highlighted that although the outstanding exposures in the BNPL segment remain small at 0.3 percent of total household debt, its rapid growth necessitates close scrutiny. The new commission will place these previously unregulated providers under a formal regulatory framework, thus strengthening consumer protection and oversight.

BNM's Financial Stability Review for the second half of 2025 emphasized the central bank's ongoing focus on the expansion of BNPL schemes. The report noted a significant increase in the total volume and value of BNPL transactions, which rose to 140.3 million transactions valued at RM11.9 billion in the second half of 2025, up from 102.6 million transactions valued at RM9.3 billion in the first half of the year.

Furthermore, the total outstanding BNPL debt saw an increase to RM4.9 billion by the end of December 2025, compared to RM3.8 billion in June 2025. This growth is largely attributed to a sharp rise in active BNPL users, with the number of active accounts reaching 7.5 million by June 2025, up from 6.5 million.

Despite this growth, BNM assured that the share of overdue BNPL debt remained stable at 3.2 percent of the total outstanding BNPL debt, a significant improvement from the early stages of the segment's emergence when it was at six percent in March 2023.