Abstract: Syndicated loan adoption has become a significant research area since its evolution in the 1960s. The objective of this paper is to review the factors influencing the adoption of syndicated bank financing between 1984 and 2019. Library research is applied since this paper relies on secondary data by thoroughly reviewing the most relevant literature. The research began with the progressive collection and retrieval of approximately 700 papers published within a thirty-four-year period from 1984 until 2019. The collection and selection process took place within the time span of over two and a half years, from November 2016 until May 2019. The findings of the systematic review revealed that SL adoption was driven by 4 primary intertwined factors which were thematically classified as bank liquidity supply, firm information disclosure, relationship banking and loan characteristics. All these variables were used to predict ISF usage. The study also employed the phenomenology method, as there was much that remained unexplained by the limited availability of the secondary data about ISF. The majority of the recent research on syndicated loans have revealed that bank liquidity supply, firm information disclosure, relationship banking and loan features, influence the banks’ participation in a syndicated loan, which in turn ensures a successful issuance. It can, therefore, be concluded that the understanding of factors influencing the banks’ participation in ISF remains an unexplored phenomenon, either globally or in Malaysia, which serves as a fertile area for academic research. Thus, there is a critical need to undertake research on this topic so the knowledge gaps can be addressed, and a contribution to the industry through practical recommendations of approaches and strategies can be made.