Wednesday, 14 Apr 2021 08:20 PM MYT KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 — Malaysian banks’ asset quality recovery is expected to be protracted beyond this year and is looking at returning to pre-Covid levels by 2023, said S&P Global Ratings. South and Southeast Asia (SSEA) Financial Services Ratings director, Ivan Tan said this was because of the delayed economic recovery due to the third wave of Covid-19 which had negatively impacted the banks. “Another factor is that the proportion of loans under moratorium or restructured loans remain high, about 20 per cent in Malaysia and also Indonesia. “This also means there will be a delayed recognition of non-performing loans (NPL) which would only crystallise later this year or next year,” he said during a webinar entitled ‘Malaysian Banking Sector Update: A Delayed Asset Quality Recovery Beyond 2021’ today.