Bursa Malaysia, the country’s national stock exchange incorporated in 1976, just launched Bursa Anywhere, a mobile app for individual investors to access a variety of central depository services (CDS) on the fly.
Bursa claims that theirs is one of the pioneering mobile depository services in Asia, second only to Taiwan.
In Bursa, CDS is the digital representation of ownership and movement of securities. CDS account holders can obtain electronic securities transfer and trade settlement.
The Bursa Anywhere app was designed to cater to the increasing demand for round-the-clock mobile access, and will also provide access to information, movements and trends. Envisioned as the future go-to platform for CDS accounts moving forward, the idea is to provide a more seamless experience, and more individual control.
Bursa aims to continue developing their digital touch points, which hints at more mobile-forward offerings in the future—it’s the most obvious way to connect with customers after all.
Those registered with Bursa Anywhere can view the balance shareholdings in all their direct CDS accounts with marked to market value, view and download statement of accounts going back 12 months, update specified depositors’ particulars, and get notifications about their shareholdings.
Bursa Malaysia is a step in the right direction, but to us, it seems too little too late in a fintech ecosystem that is already graduated to discussions of robo-advisors; artificial intelligence leveraging data to make investment decisions for even the most stock-blind of the populace featuring adjustable risk percentages. The Singapore-headquartered Stashaway, a robo-advisory platform, is currently operational in the Malaysian market.
With that being said, many existing investors with Bursa stakes and the know-how in investing will probably still appreciate having the convenience of the app, and they are an existing user base whose convenience are rightly on the minds of Bursa Malaysia.
There is also a possibility that Bursa Malaysia already has a robo-advisory platform in development, as part of the aforementioned vague reference to “develop(ing) their digital touch points”.
Bursa Anywhere is available on both Google Play and iOS Store.
Featured image via Bursa Malaysia
