> Quick view: CIMB is paying 3.40% p.a. on a 3-month eFD, 3.60% on 6 months, 3.60% on a 7-month eFD-i and 3.75% on 12 months, from a single placement of RM1,000. It has to be placed online, through the campaign link or the CIMB OCTO app, by 30 September 2026. The rate runs for one cycle only, and breaking the deposit early pays nothing at all.

Malaysia's Overnight Policy Rate has been 2.75% since the cut of 9 July 2025, and Bank Negara left it there again at its meeting on 3 September 2026. Hold that number in your head while you read the rest of this: CIMB's 12-month campaign rate of 3.75% p.a. sits a full percentage point above the OPR, which is why promotional fixed deposits are one of the few places an ordinary saver still gets paid properly for parking cash.

Every rate, rule and date below comes from CIMB's own eFD/-i September 2026 Campaign page and the campaign's own terms and conditions PDF, both read on 19 September 2026.

The rates, tenure by tenure

The campaign covers two products: the conventional eFixed Deposit (eFD) and the Islamic eFixed Deposit-i on Maturity Returns (eFD-i). Not every tenure exists on both, and the rate sheet has a gap in each column:

  • 3 months: 3.40% p.a., conventional eFD only.
  • 6 months: 3.60% p.a., conventional eFD only.
  • 7 months: 3.60% p.a., Islamic eFD-i (Maturity Returns) only.
  • 12 months: 3.75% p.a., conventional eFD only.

The minimum single placement is RM1,000 for every one of those tenures.

There is a quiet piece of arithmetic sitting in that list. The 7-month Islamic option pays the same 3.60% as the 6-month conventional one, so it buys a full extra month at the promotional rate before the money drops back to ordinary board rates. If you are choosing between the two purely on returns, and you genuinely do not need the cash in month seven, the longer tenure is the better of the pair.

Two Islamic variants are explicitly shut out. The terms say the campaign applies only to eFD and eFD-i (Maturity Returns); eFD-i (Monthly Returns) and eFD-i (Why Wait) are not included. If monthly income from your deposit is the point, this campaign is not the product for you.

What that is actually worth in ringgit

Fixed deposit rates are quoted per annum, so a 3-month placement earns roughly a quarter of the headline. Straight-line figures at each tenure, before the bank's own day-count rounding:

  • RM1,000: about RM8.50 over 3 months, RM18 over 6 months, RM21 over 7 months, RM37.50 over 12 months.
  • RM10,000: about RM85, RM180, RM210 and RM375 respectively.
  • RM50,000: about RM425, RM900, RM1,050 and RM1,875 respectively.
  • RM250,000, which is the PIDM protection ceiling per depositor per bank: about RM9,375 over 12 months.

Banks calculate on actual days rather than neat month fractions, so the figure credited may differ by a few sen either way. Interest earned by individuals on deposits with banks licensed in Malaysia is exempt from personal income tax, so what lands in the account is what you keep.

How to place it, step by step

The channel matters more than people expect. CIMB's terms require the account to be opened online through specific doors, and a placement made any other way does not attract the campaign rate.

  1. Make sure you have an active CIMB Clicks account and an active CIMB current or savings account, or a DURIAN-i account. The eFD has to be linked to one of them for funding, profit payment and withdrawal.
  2. Open the campaign page on CIMB's website or CIMB Clicks and use the direct placement link there, or open the CIMB OCTO app, tap Apply, and choose Fixed Deposit or Fixed Deposit-i (Maturity Returns). An eDM link from CIMB works too, if you received one.
  3. Pick your tenure: 3, 6 or 12 months on the conventional eFD, or 7 months on the eFD-i.
  4. Fund it with at least RM1,000 in a single placement, either by FPX transfer from another bank or from your own CIMB account.
  5. Choose whether the profit should be credited to your linked account at maturity or added to the principal. You make that choice at placement, not later.
  6. Do all of this on or before 30 September 2026.

Two practical notes on FPX. The maximum you can move per transaction is whichever is lower, CIMB's limit or your own bank's transfer limit, so a large placement may need to be split across days or raised with your sending bank first. And if a placement fails after the money has already left your account, CIMB says the deducted amount is refunded within seven business days.

The fine print that catches people

Early withdrawal pays you nothing. This is the clause worth reading twice. If you want the money before maturity, the terms require a complete upliftment of the balance, and you are not entitled to any profit at all: not the campaign rate, not the board rate, not a pro-rated fraction. That is stricter than CIMB's standard over-the-counter fixed deposit, which lets you withdraw in multiples of RM1,000 and keep the agreed rate on what is left. Under this campaign, one early withdrawal wipes out the entire return.

The rate lasts one cycle. At maturity, CIMB automatically renews the principal plus profit for the same tenure at whatever board rate applies on the renewal date. Board rates are considerably lower than campaign rates, so diarise the maturity date and decide then whether to move the money rather than letting it roll quietly.

It does not stack. The campaign rates cannot be combined with other offers, promotions or privileges, and the terms name staff rates specifically.

Bank Negara can end it early. There is an explicit clause allowing CIMB to shorten, discontinue or revise the campaign with immediate effect on notice if the OPR moves. The next Monetary Policy Committee meeting is 5 November 2026, after this campaign closes, so a mid-campaign change is unlikely, but the clause is there.

Who cannot join. The campaign is open to individuals aged 18 and above, sole proprietors and CIMB group staff. Small business, enterprise, commercial and corporate customers are excluded, as are partnerships, companies, societies and non-profits.

What is protected. The eFD/-i and CIMB current and savings accounts are protected by PIDM up to RM250,000 per depositor. DURIAN-i, which you may use to fund the placement, is not PIDM protected.

How it compares with the other campaigns closing the same day

CIMB is not the only bank running an online fixed deposit campaign that shuts on 30 September 2026, and on two of its four tenures it is not the best rate on the table. Hong Leong's eFD/-i promotion runs from 31 July to 30 September and pays 3.70% p.a. over 6 months on a RM1,000 minimum placed through HLB Connect, a tenth of a point above CIMB's 3.60% at the same tenure and the same minimum. RHB's fixed deposit campaign, also 31 July to 30 September, pays 3.80% p.a. over 9 months and 3.70% over 7 months, both above anything CIMB is offering, but it asks for a RM5,000 minimum rather than RM1,000 and may close early if it hits its campaign target.

Read that way, CIMB's genuine advantages narrow to two, and they are real ones. It has the best 12-month rate of the three at 3.75%, where Hong Leong's nearest equivalent is a 13-month at 3.55% and RHB publishes nothing that long. And it holds that rate at a RM1,000 entry, which matters if RM5,000 is more than you want to immobilise.

One warning about the comparison tables you will find elsewhere. Several products advertised near or above 4% p.a. are commodity-linked investment accounts, not fixed deposits: the principal is not guaranteed and they are not PIDM-protected. Every rate in the table below is an ordinary deposit product covered by PIDM up to RM250,000.

Who should do it, and who should skip

Worth doing if you are holding cash you know you will not touch for the full tenure: an emergency buffer you already keep separate, a property deposit dated next year, money waiting on a decision. At 3.75% for twelve months you are being paid a percentage point over the policy rate for doing nothing.

Worth doing if your savings account balance is large and idle. Ordinary savings rates in Malaysia sit far below this, and RM50,000 sitting still for a year is the difference between roughly RM1,875 and almost nothing.

Skip it if there is any chance you will need the money mid-tenure. The zero-profit upliftment rule turns a small emergency into a total loss of return. Take the 3-month tenure, or leave the money liquid.

Skip it if you want monthly income from the deposit. The two CIMB products that pay out monthly or upfront are both excluded from this campaign.

Skip the 6-month tenure if the 7-month eFD-i suits you otherwise. Same rate, one more month of it.

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*Image: CIMB*