New Brand Finance data shows Malaysian brands strengthening their regional standing across energy, leisure and banking sectors
KUALA LUMPUR, 30 October 2026 – Malaysia’s leading brands maintain a strong presence among ASEAN’s 500 most valuable brands in 2026, led by PETRONAS, which remains the region’s second most valuable brand at USD13.8 billion. According to the ASEAN 500 2026 report from Brand Finance, the world's leading brand valuation consultancy, Genting and Maybank also feature among ASEAN's 10 most valuable brands, highlighting Malaysia's continued competitiveness across energy, leisure and financial services.
PETRONAS retains its regional position despite a 4% decline to its brand value this year. While lower energy prices weigh on its brand value, Brand Finance’s market research shows that PETRONAS continues to strengthen perceptions of its reputation, reliability and customer engagement in Malaysia. This highlights the distinction between short-term movements in brand value and the underlying strength of a brand’s relationship with its customers.
Beyond the energy brand, Genting (brand value up 23% to USD6 billion) climbs from 11th (2025) to ninth in the overall ASEAN ranking this year. Its growth reflects improving operating performance, higher business volumes across leisure and hospitality, and stronger tourism demand in key markets including Malaysia and Singapore. The brand's Brand Strength Index (BSI) score of 92.1/100 also makes it one of the region's strongest brands, demonstrating how improving brand strength can support value creation.
Maybank (brand value up 4% to USD5.4 billion) also ranks among ASEAN’s 10 most valuable brands, reflecting its continued presence in the region’s competitive banking sector. The year also marks a strategic handover as the bank completes its M25+ strategy and launches ROAR30, which targets a return on equity of 13% to 14% by 2030. As Maybank enters its next strategic phase, translating its financial scale and regional reach into stronger brand momentum will be key to sustaining its competitiveness and supporting future brand value growth.
Meanwhile, PETRONAS leads ASEAN brands with a Sustainability Perceptions Value (SPV) value of USD1.3 billion. The result reflects the significant brand value tied to a perception being sustainable. As one of the region’s largest energy companies, PETRONAS has linked its sustainability approach of creating sustainable value and practising responsible governance to fulfil its Energy Transition Strategy through delivering net zero carbon emissions, thriving with nature and fostering a just transition. This approach extends across lower-carbon solutions and social impact activities, helping to shape perceptions of PETRONAS beyond its traditional role in oil and gas.
Alex Haigh, Managing Director, Brand Finance Asia Pacific, commented:
“With PETRONAS, Genting and Maybank all among ASEAN’s 10 most valuable brands, Malaysia is represented at the top of the ranking across energy, leisure and banking. PETRONAS’ brand value this year reflects softer energy prices rather than weaker customer relationships, as perceptions of its reputation and reliability continue to strengthen at home. That distinction matters, because brands that keep building trust through a downturn are better placed to recover value when conditions improve.”
Across ASEAN, the combined value of the 500 ranked brands reaches USD315.6 billion in 2026, up 8% year on year. Malaysia's leading brands contribute to this growth through a combination of energy-sector scale, financial services and expanding leisure and hospitality propositions.
Other highlights from the Brand Finance ASEAN 500 2026 report include:
Brand Finance is the world’s leading brand valuation consultancy. Bridging the gap between marketing and finance, Brand Finance evaluates the strength of brands and quantifies their financial value to help organisations make strategic decisions.
Headquartered in London, Brand Finance operates in over 25 countries. Every year, Brand Finance conducts more than 6,000 brand valuations, supported by original market research, and publishes over 100 reports which rank brands across all sectors and countries.
Brand Finance also operates the Global Brand Equity Monitor, conducting original market research annually on 6,000 brands, surveying more than 175,000 respondents across 41 countries and 31 industry sectors. By combining perceptual data from the Global Brand Equity Monitor with data from its valuation database — the largest brand value database in the world — Brand Finance equips ambitious brand leaders with the data, analytics, and the strategic guidance they need to enhance brand and business value.
In addition to calculating brand value, Brand Finance also determines the relative strength of brands through a balanced scorecard of metrics, compliant with ISO 20671.
Brand Finance is a regulated accountancy firm and a committed leader in the standardisation of the brand valuation industry. Brand Finance was the first to be certified by independent auditors as compliant with both ISO 10668 and ISO 20671 and has received the official endorsement of the Marketing Accountability Standards Board (MASB) in the United States.
Brand is defined as a marketing-related intangible asset including, but not limited to, names, terms, signs, symbols, logos, and designs, intended to identify goods, services, or entities, creating distinctive images and associations in the minds of stakeholders, thereby generating economic benefits.
Brand strength is the efficacy of a brand’s performance on intangible measures relative to its competitors. Brand Finance evaluates brand strength in a process compliant with ISO 20671, looking at Marketing Investment, Stakeholder Equity, and the impact of those on Business Performance. The data used is derived from Brand Finance’s proprietary market research programme and from publicly available sources.
Each brand is assigned a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score out of 100, which feeds into the brand value calculation. Based on the score, each brand is assigned a corresponding Brand Rating up to AAA+ in a format similar to a credit rating.
Brand Finance calculates the values of brands in its rankings using the Royalty Relief approach – a brand valuation method compliant with the industry standards set in ISO 10668. It involves estimating the likely future revenues that are attributable to a brand by calculating a royalty rate that would be charged for its use, to arrive at a ‘brand value’ understood as a net economic benefit that a brand owner would achieve by licensing the brand in the open market.
The steps in this process are as follows:
1 Calculate brand strength using a balanced scorecard of metrics assessing Marketing Investment, Stakeholder Equity, and Business Performance. Brand strength is expressed as a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score on a scale of 0 to 100.
2 Determine royalty range for each industry, reflecting the importance of brand to purchasing decisions. In luxury, the maximum percentage is high, while in extractive industry, where goods are often commoditised, it is lower. This is done by reviewing comparable licensing agreements sourced from Brand Finance’s extensive database.
3 Calculate royalty rate. The BSI score is applied to the royalty range to arrive at a royalty rate. For example, if the royalty range in a sector is 0-5% and a brand has a BSI score of 80 out of 100, then an appropriate royalty rate for the use of this brand in the given sector will be 4%.
4 Determine brand-specific revenues by estimating a proportion of parent company revenues attributable to a brand.
5 Determine forecast revenues using a function of historic revenues, equity analyst forecasts, and economic growth rates.
6 Apply the royalty rate to the forecast revenues to derive brand revenues.
7 Discount post-tax brand revenues to a net present value which equals the brand value.
Brand Finance has produced this study with an independent and unbiased analysis. The values derived and opinions presented in this study are based on publicly available information and certain assumptions that Brand Finance used where such data was deficient or unclear. Brand Finance accepts no responsibility and will not be liable in the event that the publicly available information relied upon is subsequently found to be inaccurate. The opinions and financial analysis expressed in the study are not to be construed as providing investment or business advice. Brand Finance does not intend the study to be relied upon for any reason and excludes all liability to any body, government, or organisation.
The data presented in this study form part of Brand Finance's proprietary database, are provided for the benefit of the media, and are not to be used in part or in full for any commercial or technical purpose without written permission from Brand Finance.
