Author: Vincent Fong

The name Kenanga Investment Bank has been plastered across headlines recently, a shift from its previously media-shy nature. Backed by 45 years of history, Kenanga is the largest independent investment bank in Malaysia with RM 14 billion Assets Under Management (AUM). To get a sense of Kenanga’s digital roadmap and end-game with all these recent moves, we spoke to their group managing director Datuk Chay Wai Leong. The Journey So Far Kenanga’s digital journey began in earnest in 2016 with the formation of a partnership with Japanese internet giant Rakuten Group that eventually led to the launch of Rakuten Trade…

During a virtual press conference today, Bank Negara Malaysia governor, Datuk Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus said to reporters that over 40 parties have registered their interest with the central bank to bid for a digital banking license. Malaysia’s digital banking framework was issued in December 2020 and it is anticipated that up to 5 licenses will be issued by the first quarter of 2022. The new framework which has undergone a 6 months consultation period was seen as a positive move by the industry players, with some describing it as “best of breed” in balancing the need for innovation and…

There’s an air of excitement ever since Bank Negara Malaysia issued its much anticipated digital banking framework. The introduction of this framework will allow a new breed of non-traditional players to enter the market with novel ideas and innovative technologies unburdened by legacy systems. Under this framework, Malaysia will be granting up to 5 new digital banking licenses in 2022, there is however no guarantee that we will be seeing 5 new digital banks by then. When Singapore announced the successful applicants for its digital banking license, only 4 out 5 licenses were dished out. How do digital banking aspirants…

Financial inclusion has been the rallying call for many fintechs, but with Malaysia’s high banked population of over 90%, what are some of the gaps that remain to be unplugged? Perhaps one of the most often overlooked segment of society is the migrant population. While sources from the Ministry of Home Affairs reported that there are nearly 2 million migrant workers in Malaysia, a report by World Bank suggests the number is probably closer to 3.5 million. Which means that the migrant worker population is equivalent to more than 10% of Malaysia’s total population of 32.7 million. This sometimes invisible…

When we entered into 2020 not a single one of us anticipated for it to play out the way that it did. While the pandemic has affected everyone differently even within different verticals in fintech there’s still a sense of optimism among fintechs, against the backdrop of rising digital adoption. Before we put this awful, awful year behind us, it’s worth taking a walk down memory lane to reflect on some of the key stories and developments that have shaped the Malaysian landscape. Record funding rounds for digital banking aspirants In keeping with global trends, aspiring digital banking outfits in…

Huobi recently announced that as a “localized digital asset exchange for the Malaysian market” they have launched their service to provide Malaysians a “safe and regulated way to trade cryptocurrencies” after securing a license from “Malaysian authorities”. They further added that securing this license allows them to “provide spot and derivatives trading services in Malaysia”. The vaguely phrased sentence which some believe to be deliberate, seems to have drawn some confusion among the crypto community. The statement made is not technically accurate, while they are allowed to operate within the jurisdictions of Labuan, the company will require additional approval from…

The Ministry of Housing and Local Government unveiled last week a new guideline that will allow for licensed moneylenders to provide loans digitally. Zuraida Kamaruddin Minister of Housing and Local Government said that these new guidelines were released with microentrepreneurs in mind, who are typically unable to secure loans from banks. Eight operators were granted the first batch of approval to provide online loans, they include; Axiata Digital Capital Sdn Bhd, BigPay Later, Grabfin Operations (M) Sdn Bhd, GHL Payments Sdn Bhd, Presto Credit Sdn Bhd, JCL Credit Leasing Sdn Bhd, Fortune Tree Capital Sdn Bhd, and Hoop Fintech Sdn…

The Malaysian government continues to provide support in developing the P2P lending and equity crowdfunding (ECF) market. During the tabling of budget 2021 last Friday, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul announced that the government will be allocating RM 50 million in matching grant for P2P lending and RM 30 million matching grant for ECF respectively. This makes it a combined total of RM 80 million to be allocated in matching grants to promote the regulated crowdfunding market in Malaysia. In contrast, the 2020 budget allocated a total of RM 50 million in matching grant under the MyCIF scheme with an addition…

Payments firm GHL has been gradually shedding from its pure payment play in a series of announcements it has made recently on new services and partnerships. In the 2nd quarter of 2020,  they secured a lending license in Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. The company has also been seen making partnerships with Axiata to offer micro-lending services and with an Austalian fintech startup named Splitit to offer buy now, pay later services to its online merchants. Just yesterday the company revealed that all these new services that are targeted at MSMEs and the self-employed will be housed under “GROW by…

Years ago before my job with the Fintech News Network, I would drive my lifeless body to work at the crack of dawn to my office in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. During this dreaded daily commute, the local business radio station BFM was always a trusty companion, and Julian Ng who was then a radio presenter at BFM always felt like a reliable source of information on markets, investments, and anything finance related. When he left his job at BFM several years back, I was introduced to him through a mutual friend. Julian shared that he was looking to…

There is a quiet war waging in the consumer payments space, and no, it’s not the skirmishes between e-wallet companies trying to “out-cashback” each other. The real struggle is between card payments hunkering down to maintain dominance and QR payments mounting an offensive to capture market share. The most obvious example of QR payments success is of course in China where virtually everyone pays using either Alipay or WeChat Pay. In 2019, these two companies collectively surpassed US$ 6.5 trillion in transactions and count over 1.7 billion users in China alone. It is a market that’s so lucrative that even…

The South East Asian startup scene is ripe with opportunities and home to some of the most exciting startups within Asia and beyond. The region has given birth to unicorns who are household names like Grab, Gojek, Sea Group, Traveloka, Lazada, and more. Globally, there are roughly 491 unicorns at the cumulative valuation of over US$ 1.5 trillion, according to CB Insights. However, despite our best efforts, Malaysia is not part of the action. Of course, some may argue that Grab is a Malaysian company but that’s a tired and old argument because the fact is, they are headquartered in…

There’s an old joke on how on the internet nobody knows that you’re a dog, which speaks to how the internet has become synonymous with anonymity. While anonymity is fine in many instances, in an increasingly digital world it has become crucial that you are who you say you are. Nowhere is this more critical than in the financial services space, where banks are required to ensure that your funds are lawfully gained and are not channeled to some nefarious activity. For the longest time banks in Malaysia required you to show up in the branch physically to conduct a…

Earlier in August, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) together with the Malaysia Digital Economy Development Corporation (MDEC) jointly launched their fintech capacity building program, Fintech Booster. The program is intended to further support the growth and development of fintech companies in Malaysia and is also open to foreign companies with no presence in Malaysia yet. Norhizam Kadir, Vice President, Fintech & Islamic Digital Economy, MDEC commented during the launch that they came up with program together with BNM when they identified that there are commonly 3 main roadblocks that fintech startups face namely; understanding regulation and compliance matters, gaining market access,…

Following its recent upgraded consumer digital banking app, HLB Connect, Hong Leong Bank today unveils a digital banking platform that is targetted at serving savers and their parents called HLB Pocket Connect. The app includes an “Earn Feature” which allows for parents to set tasks or goals and reward their children with extra pocket money when they complete them. The account also comes with a reloadable junior debit card for the children to spend. It also allows the parents to monitor and control their children’s pocket money. Parents can transfer money into this account through their HLB connect and set…

The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) together with Bank Negara Malaysia today launched the Fintech Booster Programme. The program was co-developed to further support the growth and development of fintech companies in Malaysia. It provides capacity building for fintech companies to develop meaningful innovative products and services by enhancing their understanding of legal, compliance and regulation requirements. Fintech Booster is open to all fintech companies including those without any presence in Malaysia. However, fintech companies with potential to contribute to the creation of high value-added jobs in Malaysia will be viewed more favourably. Three verticals will be introduced in the…

MDEC is a name that is familiar to most in Malaysia as the agency that acts as an enabler for Malaysia’s digital economy. The agency has also been active on the fintech front — from launching a congregational point that also act as a co-working space called The ORBIT, to co-organising Malaysia’s first Fintech Week with Bank Negara Malaysia. As Malaysia’s fintech scene shifts from its infancy stage to the next phase of growth, we need to evaluate our strategy on how we should be positioning ourselves within the global arena — especially in face of well-established fintech hubs like…

Axiata Digital the digital services arm of telco operator Axiata Group today announced a strategic investment of US$ 70 Million by Great Eastern to boost its fintech business across the region. Leading up this strategic investment, the Axiata Group and Great Eastern previously entered into a partnership to promote insurance products through Axiata’s various platforms. This deal is a significant milestone for Axiata Group and the Malaysian fintech scene as this is the largest investment yet into a Malaysian fintech. The closest second would be the acquisition of a 60% stake of Tranglo from Ekuinas by TNG Fintech, a Hong…

By now you’ve probably seen the headlines plastered across multiple media outlets stating that Malaysia is leading South East Asia in e-wallet adoption with 40% of Malaysians surveyed responding that they are using e-wallets. This is followed by Philippines at 36%, Thailand 27% and Singapore at 26%. As an avid supporter and observer of the fintech space in Malaysia, it was difficult to resist the urge to pat the collective back of the Malaysian fintech industry but i was skeptical of the numbers especially with Singapore’s number being suspiciously low. While Malaysia has made great strides in e-wallet adoption thanks…

Huawei held its Global FSI Summit this week which featured financial institutions and enterprises sharing their experience in dealing with the “new normal’ in the post-pandemic era. The list of presenters included senior representatives from organizations like DBS Bank, Sberbank, BBVA, China Construction Bank, Temenos and IDC. In a media sharing session Jason Cao, President of Global Financial Services, Huawei, said that banks need to work on developing their own super apps in order to fend off attacks from disruptors. He further noted that when internet giants like Tencent and Ant Financial took away a chunk of deposits and loans…