Following Tencent’s recent success in securing E-Money license from Bank Negara Malaysia, the company’s payments arm WeChat Pay has received the green light from Bank Negara Malaysia to partner up with Hong Leong Bank. Similar to Alipay’s game plan, WeChat Pay will also be initially focused on Chinese tourists visiting Malaysia to gain traction and merchant acceptance. It is very likely that once the first phase is complete this service will be opened up to the locals. In this arrangement Hong Leong Bank will act as the merchant acquirer bank for WeChat Pay. While it is a positive development for…

InstaReM secured approval under theMoney Services Licensed Business from Bank Negara Malaysia, it is eyeing aggressive expansion following its recent Series B Funding. Headquartered in Singapore, InstaReM is a digital cross border payments company has announced its expansion into Malaysia at its launch press conference today. The company holds licenses in 8 markets and covering over 40 countries reaching 60 countries across the globe. The company took the route of securing approval under the Money Services Business License compared to its Malaysian counterpart MoneyMatch which secured approval under the Fintech Regulatory Sandbox by Bank Negara Malaysia. Prior to…

Geopolitical pressures to out-compete the Americans have driven China to exert its influence in South East Asia. Chief among the beneficiary of this exercise is Malaysia. While many of these government to government initiatives are largely focused on infrastructure projects, we’ve seen many major initiatives from the fintech end of the divide. Most notably are TenCent’s WeChat Pay and Ant Financial’s AliPay foray into the Malaysia digital wallets space. Their entrance into the Malaysian market is no triffling matter, together these two companies make up for 92% of the payments market in China. In this article, we intend to explore…

It’s no secret that besides sharing a common history, Singapore and Malaysia has always shared a sense of rivalry with each other. The fact that both countries are actively vying for a piece of the fintech pie and their geographical promixity further fuels the rivalry between the two countries. While some would lean towards Singapore being the more conducive environment and some would vehemently defend Malaysia’s advantages over Singapore, we feel there’s a need to look at both countries side by side, objectively. Below is our infographic comparing both the nations This article was first published on…

In a surprising announcement today, Iskandar Ezzahuddin Ahmad will be leaving his role as GoBear Malaysia’s Country director and will serving as Tune Protects Deputy CEO effective today. In his prior role as GoBear Malaysia’s Country director he was responsible for the company’s expansion into the Malaysian market. Since its inception in Malaysia GoBear was the first to receive approval for the Bank Negara Malaysia Fintech Regulatory Sandbox. Iskandar’s new role in Tune Protect is to accelerate the companies ambitions of becoming the nation’s leading digital insurer. Having come from a fintech startup background, it would be interesting to observe Iskandar’s…

TNG Digital Sdn Berhad a new entity jointly formed by CIMB Bank’s subsidiarity, Touch ‘n Go and Alipay has received green light from Bank Negara Malaysia. The new entity will consist of Touch ‘n Go’ as the majority shareholder and Alipay will participate as the minority shareholder. The capital injected by both parties will go towards the creation of an online and offline payments provider This news follows their earlier announcement to jointly roll out mobile payments by June 2018, further cementing the group’s cashless ambition. The combination of Touch ‘n Go’s userbase as the national public transport payments card,…

ACI Worldwide, a global provider of real-time electronic payment and banking solutions, today announced that Payments Network Malaysia (PayNet), the national financial market infrastructure provider, will build Malaysia’s Real-time Retail Payments Platform (RPP) using ACI’s UP Immediate Payments solution. RPP is PayNet’s strategic initiative to modernize Malaysia’s retail payments infrastructure, drive innovation in electronics payments and bring the benefits of immediate payments to all participants in the payments ecosystem, including banks, payment institutions, businesses, consumers and the government. In 2017, PayNet has developed the Core RPP infrastructure while 2018 will see the launch of Instant Credits, Request-to-Pay for e commerce…

In a press conference today at the sidelines of the SCxSC Digital Finance Conference 2017, Tan Sri Ranjit Singh the Chairman of the Securities Commission of Malaysia announced that the first licenses for the Digital Investment Framework Management will be issued in mid 2018 paving the way for the introduction of robo-advisors to the Malaysian market. The Digital Investment Management Framework was launched by the Securities Commission of Malaysia in May 2017 and it is said to be the first in the region to launch a regulatory framework of this nature. According to Tan Sri Ranjit Singh, since the launch of…

Tan Sri Ranjit Singh, Chairman of Securities Commission of Malaysia announced today at the SCxSC Digital Finance Conference 2017 today that the regulator has embarked on a pilot project for distributed ledgers in the unlisted and OTC Market space. The technology will be deployed to provide more clarity to the OTC and unlisted market space which is largely considered to be opaque due to the lack of information available. “By using distributed ledger as a technology underpinning the market infrastructure, all transactions and market activities would be recorded and made available to all market participants while maintaining transaction confidentiality” Tan…

Funding Societies and Cheng & Co have engaged in a strategic partnership to broaden and simplify access to business financing for creditworthy Malaysian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Cheng & Co, a  established home-grown accounting firm, will refer promising SMEs in need of financing to Funding Societies, a  (P2P) financing platform in the country. In turn, Funding Societies will provide working capital to eligible SMEs through its investor base. The arrangement is subject to SME customers’ consent and is the first partnership between a P2P financing platform with an accounting firm in Malaysia. P2P financing platforms such as Funding Societies…

Boost, an app based mobile wallet developed by Axiata Digital, announced their partnership with Universiti Teknologi Malaysia to create a “Cashless Campus” in Malaysia. This partnership could potentially enable 25,000 students and faculty members across UTM Kuala Lumpur and Skudai campuses to use the mobile wallet. Christopher Tiffin, CEO of Boost added that,“Backed by Axiata’s vast expertise in digital technology across Asia, Boost is at the frontier of the digital economy and one of the fastest growing mobile wallets in the market. Our partnership with UTM signifies more than just a venture, it also represents a new and exciting way…

Bank Negara Malaysia has approved 3 more participants to its Fintech Sandbox. This news follows their official announcement earlier in May for the first batch of approved participants of the Bank Negara Malaysia Fintech Sandbox which includes GoBear Ltd, GetCover Sdn Bhd, MoneyMatch Sdn Bhd, and World Remit According to the website of Bank Negara Malaysia’s Fintech Enablement group the testing period will be for 12 months starting from 20th October. Comparing to the previous list of approved participants which primarily in the financial aggregrator and remittance space, the new list introduces a e-KYC element to it. The introduction of e-KYC to…

MoneyMatch Sdn Bhd, a home-grown company approved by Bank Negara Malaysia, launched its “Transfer” portal, a fully digital cross border remittance service offering exchange rates and fees far cheaper than incumbent banks. The Transfer portal allows users to conduct their entire transactions online via the MoneyMatch mobile app and the web platform. It also features a one-time online customer verification also known as an “eKYC” or electronic know your customer feature. The combination of these elements allows MoneyMatch to provide a complete and fully digital end to end experience for the consumer. Adrian Yap, the CEO of MoneyMatch said: “Combined…

WorldKoins is a mobile app operated by Appykoins Sdn. Bhd, which allows leftover currency to be converted to eGift cards and vouchers, which can be used to shop online from mobile phones. WorldKoins is working in collaboration with AirAsia to offer this service to all travellers who fly on board selected flights from Kuala Lumpur. This six-months pilot programme offers guests on AirAsia the option to convert Malaysian Ringgit-denominated currency into WorldKoins credits that can be used to shop at various participating merchants such as Lazada, Grab, Skype, iTunes, Google Play, Facebook, transfer to PayPal or even donate to selected…

Malaysian based fintech company  Jirnexu – has raised US$2 million in a pre-Series B round. Japan-based SBI Group led the latest round, joined by existing investors Celebes and Cento Ventures. This brings Jirnexu’s total funding to US$8 million. Bringing over 18 years of experience in developing an internet-based financial ecosystem in Japan, SBI Group will work with Jirnexu to consolidate its leadership in Malaysia and expand their regional footprint by accelerating the development of new products and services. Jirnexu provides financial service institutions (“FSIs”)—banks and insurance companies—with a full stack solution to effectively increase sales by attracting, retaining and monetising…

Often in conversation with industry players in Malaysia, the sentiment is that Malaysia is lacking in activity within the fintech space and the the fintech startups in Malaysia are still pretty nascent. The general impression from the market is that there’s a lack of innovative fintech startups in Malaysia. My belief is that, these statements are often a misconception, the reality is that there are some fintech startups in Malaysia with strong growth potential however, the challenge is that many of them often fly under the radar. This article intends to highlight some fintech startups in Malaysia that we feel…

Partnering with Cathay United Bank (CUB), Soft Space introduces an innovative way to make payments that is set to empower FamilyMart Taiwan called “My FamiPay”. The application integrates and binds debit/prepaid/credit cards and other various stored value cards for in-store purchases and utility bill payments to enable seamless loyalty points collection for their consumers with just a click of a button. According to eMarketer, Taiwan is the most mobile country in the world with 73.4% of Taiwan’s population uses smartphones. Soft Space saw an opportunity to undertake Taiwan’s digital payment market as it has the highest smartphone penetration in the…

Today marks the soft launch of the first Malaysia Fintech Awards 2018 which was officiated by Tan Sri Dr. Halim Shafie, Chairman, Malaysian Communications And Multimedia Commission and supported by Malaysia’s Prime Minister YB’ Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak. The Malaysia Fintech Awards 2018 aims to recognize the achievements of the most innovative fintech companies in Malaysia and honor their contributions towards the country’s economic development. The event, happening on the 8th March 2018 in Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre will consist of forums during the day and an awards ceremony gala dinner at night. Categories of the…

Approval from Bank Negara Malaysia for Sarawak Pay was obtained last week , further to the approval the Sarawak Government would see the system implemented at state government departments and agencies next year. The system would allow for payments for all local government services such as property assessment rates and land rent. Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said that pilot projects will be launched in Kuching prior to being implemented state-wide. In an earlier statement the Chief Minister also stated that this will enable Sarawak to have e-wallet or e-pay which can be linked to our neighbours…

Maybank Berhad, Malaysia’s largest bank by assets has seen a 91% spike in transactions for its mobile banking during the first three quarters of 2017. The bank said in a statement that this trend illustrates the trend that consumers are increasingly adopting mobile banking in Malaysia. In contrast, 2016 only saw a 48% increase. “The significant rise in the mobile banking space can be attributed to the new Maybank app that was launched in March this year as well as customers’ increasing confidence and familiarity with transacting over digital platforms,” said its head of community financial services Malaysia Datuk Hamirullah…