KAF Digital Bank has finally been granted approval to operate as a digital bank in Malaysia.

The Islamic digital bank consortium is led by KAF Investment Bank alongside Carsome, MoneyMatch, Jirnexu, and StoreHub as its partners.

The approval, granted by Bank Negara Malaysia and the Ministry of Finance, allowed KAF Digital Bank to begin operations on 20 December 2024.

This follows KAF Digital Bank’s completion of a rigorous operational readiness review by Bank Negara Malaysia.

The bank will initially launch in an alpha testing phase with a limited number of users before expanding to a wider audience in a beta phase.

KAF Digital Bank aims to offer innovative, Shariah-compliant banking products and services for Malaysians.

KAF Investment Bank Berhad, established in 1975, is a well-established Malaysian financial services group with extensive experience in various financial sectors, including Shariah and conventional fixed income, investment banking, and fund management.

So far three digital banks have launched their operations in Malaysia – Grab’s GXBank, Boost Bank and AEON Bank.

The YTL-Sea Digital Bank project had previously announced plans to go live by the end of 2024, but the project appears to have faced delays.

Featured image credit: Edited from Freepik