SDB is a Development Financial Institution (DFI), wholly-owned by the State Government of Sabah. On 9 August 1977, Bank Pembangunan Sabah Berhad was incorporated by the State Government of Sabah, as a public limited company under the Companies Act, 1965. The following year, it changed its name to the present Sabah Development Bank Berhad (SDB). It was granted with specific consent from the Federal Ministry of Finance to use the word ‘Bank’ in its name.

Over the years, SDB has gone through a number of changes as evident by the dynamic developments in the financial industry. In 1996, SDB was privatized when it was acquired by a Sabah-based investment holding company, Suria Capital Holdings Berhad. However in 1999, SDB was reacquired by the State Government of Sabah to enable SDB to be revived as an active financial intermediary of the State Government. Today, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Sabah State Government, SDB functions as a healthy development financial institution.

SDB now operates as a profitable company under the guidance of the Board of Directors, which has been specially appointed to ensure SDB moves in tandem with the State’s and Country’s development plan and objectives. The Board together with the management runs parallel in ensuring that SDB bears the mark of a financial institution with good corporate governance and undoubted integrity.