Malaysia’s fintech scene is becoming increasingly active, it is sometimes difficult to keep track of all the important events, here’s February’s edition of our news roundup featuring the top 10 stories in the Fintech Malaysia scene. If you’re interested to check out January’s new’s round up you can read more here
Bank Negara Malaysia Issues Cryptocurrency Regulation
The central bank has announced the official cryptocurrency regulation in Malaysia under the policy paper “Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism Policy for Digital Currencies (Sector 6)”.
In essence the policy states that exchanges are subject to reporting obligations and must put in place risk mitigation in relation to money laundering and terrorism financing but they’re are not licensed entities under Bank Negara Malaysia and should not present themselves as such
Read more here
IRB Unfreezes Luno’s Accounts
According to a statement issued by Luno, the Inland Revenue Board has agreed to unfreeze Luno’s bank account while it completes the investigation. Luno is now working closely with Maybank to have the account operational again. At the time of writing, Fintech News Malaysia tested withdrawal availability since the day of the announcement until now with no success.
Finalist for The Malaysia Fintech Awards Announced
The finalist for the Malaysia Fintech Awards 2018 has finally been announced, the organisers has also confirmed during their press conference that Prime Minister YAB Dato’ Seri Najib will be present during the award night as the guest of honour which will be held on the 6th of March in KLCC.
Read more here
HelloGold Receives Shariah Compliant Certification
GOLDX, a gold-backed cryptocurrency developed by Southeast Asian fintech firm HelloGold, has earned the world’s first Shariah-compliance certification.
Certified by the Shariah Supervisory Board of Amanie Advisors, GOLDX is a fully operational Ethereum ERC20 token backed by 99.99% investment-grade gold.
Read more here
RHB to Spend 200$ on Digital Transformation in Their 5 Year Plan
Speaking at a media briefing held in conjunction with RHB Financial Year 2017 briefing, RHB group managing director Datuk Khairussaleh Ramli said digital enablement would be a core priority. RHB intends to spend over RM200mil over the next three to five years on digital capabilities and technological investments.
Sedania Partners with Crealogix
Sedania Innovator Bhd via its subsidiary, Sedania As-Salam Capital Sdn Bhd, is partnering with digital banking company Crealogix Pte Ltd to offer digitalisation of financial products and services to financial institutions in Malaysia.
Under the partnership, Sedania will become the system integrator for Crealogix’s banking middleware, allowing financial institutions to digitalise products and services.
Read more here
SEA’s Largest VC Firm Announced the Opening of Malaysian HQ
Southeast Asia’s largest VC, on Feb 27 announced the opening of its Malaysian headquarters.The VC’s previous investments into fintech companies includes the likes of MatchMove and M-DAQ
Read more here
Telenor’s Valyou Launches Wallet-To-Wallet Remittance From Malaysia To Bangladesh
Telenor’s Valyou, in partnership with Mutual Trust Bank (MTB), has introduced wallet-to-wallet remittance from Malaysia to Bangladesh. Valyou is licensed and regulated as a money services business (MSB) and authorised to issue e-money by Bank Negara Malaysia. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, the financial technology company is a subsidiary of Telenor Group.
DiGi, Malaysia third largest mobile operator is also part of the Telenor Group,has also previously launched a digital wallet app called vcash in partnership with Valyou.
Read more here
CIMB Bank Works with 2 Singaporean Fintech Firms To Enhance EVA
CIMB Bank Berhad has added new features to its mobile application, the CIMB Enhanced Virtual Assistant (EVA), to bring further personalised, convenience and improved experience to its customers. EVA was recently enhanced to include Spend Analyser and natural language conversational capabilities. These features are made available through collaboration with Singaporean fintech companies like MoneyThor and Active.Ai.
Read more here
Funding Societies and MoneyMatch Teams Up to Tackle the SME Market
Funding Societies and MoneyMatch, two local FinTech startups, announced an official strategic partnership to broaden access to alternative financial services for Malaysian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Funding Societies and MoneyMatch partnership aims to provide businesses, particularly SMEs, with a wider range of options when searching for quality business financing and when performing cross border transactions
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