The first Malaysian Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia, the late Tun Ismail Mohamed Ali, conceived the idea of having a Kijang motif for the official logo of the Bank. This motif was derived from the depictions of Kijang (barking deer) on gold coins of the State of Kelantan, which was among the earliest coins of the Malay Sultanate.

The Bank's logo was formalised in 1964 and features a Kijang, a sun and a crescent moon. The sun symbolizes power and the crescent moon represents Islam, the official religion of Malaysia.