Author: Fintech News Malaysia

AmBank has formed a strategic partnership with Merchantrade Asia, a digital money services business operator and e-money issuer, to enable a hybrid e-wallet as part of its fintech initiatives. This follows a similar partnership to launch Kenanga’s e-wallet back in September 2020. With this hybrid e-wallet enablement, Merchantrade’s customers will have access to a much larger e-wallet capacity of RM50,000 while reaping the benefits of a current account — which means users will be able to enjoy a small amount of interest. AmBank said in a statement that this would also improve customer experience and ease the hassle of e-wallet…

Malaysian stock exchange Bursa Malaysia is seeking to collaborate with fintech companies or other strategic partners in a bid to strengthen its value proposition, increase its agility as well as efficiency. Bursa Malaysia said that such efforts would help the exchange grow, capture new opportunities, innovate, and remain relevant in this fast-changing financial landscape. Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift, Chief Executive Officer of Bursa Malaysia said in a statement to Bernama, “We are open as to potential collaboration and the nature of the same. We also look towards investment and adoption of new financial technologies through proof-of-concept (PoC) and investment in…

Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) via its enterprise and public sector business solutions arm, TM ONE, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad, for its appointment as a digital partner in realising the latter’s transformational strategy. The collaboration between both parties is aimed at further exploring TM ONE’s role in becoming the primary digital solutions provider to Bank Islam for digital infrastructures such as data center and Cloud α (Alpha) services, as well as big data analytics and cybersecurity solutions. These solutions will intensify Bank Islam’s IT infrastructure and Center for Digital Experience’s (CDX) digital banking products,…

Digital banking aspirant BigPay announced that it is expanding its range of financial services with the launch of cash top up at all 7-Eleven stores across Malaysia. They said that over 1.3 million of BigPay’s Malaysian users can now top up their account at any of the over 2,400 7-Eleven locations nationwide. BigPay said that it aims to provide all consumers access to mainstream financial products usually only offered by retail banks, but at lower costs efficiently. The company is also looking to launch a range of new products, including personal loans, insurance, and wealth management. On the personal loans…

Tranglo, a Malaysian cross-border payment specialist, announced 4 new payment corridors in Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, and Brazil, marking the fintech’s first foray into Sub Saharan Africa and Latin America. Tranglo said that it aims to play its part in lowering the cost of remittances in these regions. According to World Bank data, Sub Saharan Africa is the costliest region to send remittances to, averaging 8.5% to send USD 200 in the third quarter of 2020, while it costs an average of 5.8% to send the same amount to Latin America.  For context, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals calls for…

AXA Affin General Insurance Berhad (AXA) has partnered with Fi Life, a Malaysian insurtech startup, to offer online medical insurance complete with an e-medical card. The products offered by them are SmartCare Optimum and SmartCare Optimum Plus. AXA said that this is the first online medical insurance in Malaysia that allows for substantial annual limits for medical claims of RM100,000 all the way up to RM2.1 million. Prior to this launch, the highest annual limit for medical insurance that can be bought online is RM250,000. This was made possible because Fi Life incorporates AXA’s full medical underwriting process within its…

InsureTech Connect (ITC), one of the largest insurtech gathering, will be presenting the Digital Distribution & Ecosystems: virtual summit on 25th February 2021. The virtual event will dive deep into the key market trends and topics revolving around digital distribution and ecosystems.  A well-designed distribution channel allows customers to access and purchase products in the most efficient way and ecosystem partners accelerate the way distribution is conducted. Properly developing a digital insurance ecosystem will greatly benefit insurers and it’s ecosystem alike. 2020 has been a strange year for many as the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the way people engage with…

Hong Leong Bank (HLB) announced the launch of its e-commerce platform offering with an official store on Shopee Mall. This enables HLB’s customers to sign up for banking products and services without the need to visit physical branches. E-commerce experienced significant growth especially over the last year. Shopee reported a 38 million monthly average visit traffic and is one of the most visited e-commerce site in Malaysia, making e-commerce a major growth area for HLB in expanding its digital banking proposition. HLB added that the banking industry is playing catch up in the digital game considering you can get most…

Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad (KIB) via its wholly-owned private equity arm, Kenanga Private Equity Sdn Bhd, has entered into a conditional agreement to acquire 19% equity interest in Tokenize Technology (M) Sdn Bhd, a digital asset exchange that allows trading of cryptocurrencies. Operating under the brand Tokenize Xchange, it is one of the three licensed digital asset exchanges (DAX) by the Securities Commission of Malaysia (SC). KIB said that it has been “building a digital ecosystem to offer our customers a wide spectrum of financial products and services, including digital assets” and is “pleased to be given the opportunity to…

Technology has been changing behaviour of people. Many are showing significance reliance on the Internet – mobile network in particular – more than ever. At the same time, technological innovations are led by such behavioural changes. Indeed, successful innovations need more than just insights. They are reflecting how people use technology, and thus change their habits. Finance services industry is also evolving the way they are doing business, as many customers are turning online for their daily activities such as buying stocks, paying bills, or managing their savings and investments, etc. But more often than not, there is an increasing…

An earlier report by SoyaCincau spotted social media postings which claim that the personal details of over 300,000 E-Pay customers are being sold online for US$  300. The report further added that the database contain customer name, email address, hashed password, date of birth, full address, and mobile number. A Threat Actor is selling 380,000 customers PII Data and credentials related to the online payment system e-pay (https://t.co/2G2LJl9LZZ) located in Malaysia 🇲🇾. pic.twitter.com/bLKTnM8rxm — Bank Security (@Bank_Security) February 2, 2021 In response to Fintech News Malaysia’s request for a statement, GHL said that “investigations are still underway” and that GHL…

A recent study by Fenergo, provider of digital transformation, customer journey and client lifecycle management (CLM) solutions, found that Malaysia ranked the highest for data privacy fines in the APAC region totaling almost US$ 4 billion. Meanwhile, neighbouring countries Singapore and Hong Kong came in third and fourth respectively at US$ 123,075,897 and US$ 107,806,257. In APAC, the total of enforcement actions aimed at financial institutions and individuals increased to $5,180,199,367 in 2020. Among the notable findings of the annual report was the landmark action against Goldman Sachs totaling $6.8 billion from multiple regulators for its involvement in 1Malaysia Development…

Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd has acquired i-VCAP Management Sdn Bhd via its wholly owned subsidiary Kenanga Investors Bhd (KIB) following approval by the Securities Commission of Malaysia. i-VCAP is a Shariah-compliant investment management services provider primarily focused on Islamic exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The acquisition follows a year after Kenanga Group’s first foray into the ETF space where OneETF by Kenanga, Malaysia’s KLCI-linked leveraged and inverse ETFs was introduced together with its strategic partner Yuanta Securities, an ETF provider in Asia. Kenanga said that this deal is the financial group’s second bolt-on purchase of an asset management business within the last…

Versa, a digital cash management platform, has announced the launch of their digital platform in partnership with Affin Hwang Asset Management. Accessible as a mobile application, Versa said that its users can acquire returns that are similar to other low-risk deposit options with the flexibility of a savings account. Versa is a recognised e-service platform with approval from the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC). This was made possible when the Securities Commission announced last year that they will amend the regulation allow for e-payment and e-wallet providers to sell capital market products. Currently there are two entities approved by SC as…

A survey conducted by TransferWise, an online money transfer service, has shed light on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the remittance habits of those living in Malaysia. The survey found that a whopping 50% of Malaysians find the high cost associated with remittances to be a challenge, which led to almost half of the respondents (48%) reducing the amount sent and more than one-third (35%) completely giving up on sending a remittance altogether. These findings are the result of a survey that was conducted with 1,000 Malaysians who are largely within the 25-44 age group. The speed of transfers…

In a media statement issued by PayNet, the company announced that DuitNow QR is now widely available and multiple QRs on storefronts will soon be a thing of the past. They said that DuitNow QR is now offered by 26 participants with 15 banks and e-wallets to be added progressively over the next 6 months DuitNow QR is established under Bank Negara Malaysia’s Interoperable Credit Transfer Framework (ICTF) and PayNet was mandated to implement the interoperable common QR standard for Malaysia. Consumers can make payments by scanning the DuitNow QR code on their smartphone with payment going straight from the…

Digital transformation is now everywhere, as every industry is actively adopting advanced information and communications technology (ICT) while changing business practices. The digital economy is extending its presence with speed, ease of access, as well as the power penetration that continuously change the behaviors of consumers and enterprises. Such changes complicate the relations between supply and demand, making the market more segmented, diversified, whereas services and products are more personalized. That means organizations must reallocate their resources, and most importantly, rebuild their technological infrastructure to facilitate the pressing needs of agility and scalability. From IoT to BoT “Internet of Things”,…

CIMB Bank Berhad and CIMB Islamic Bank Berhad has announced its CIMB CNY Go Digital offers for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). As businesses are still weathering the pandemic and with the recent implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO), CIMB is strengthening its efforts to provide digital solutions for SMEs. CIMB has partnered with Shopmatic, an e-commerce provider in Southeast Asia, that enables SMEs to increase online sales via the latter’s B2C platform to reach a wider audience. With Shopmatic’s services, SMEs can set up a fully integrated website in 30 minutes and at the same time and receive…

CapBay, a Malaysian P2P supply chain financing platform, announced that it has raised US$ 20 million in its Series A round. The funding comes from existing investor KK Fund, a Singapore-based venture capital firm that invests in startups across Southeast Asia with a strong foothold in Malaysia since 2015. CapBay had previously secured close to US$ 500,000 during a seed funding round led by KK Fund in 2017. Other Malaysian investors include several angel investors with expertise in finance, technology and growing startup companies. CapBay said that the funding will enable more efficient financing and market expansion in order to…

TNG Digital, the e-wallet operator that was formed as a result of a joint venture between CIMB Bank and Ant Financial, is reportedly seeking to raise US$ 150 million according to a Reuters report on Thursday. The report further added that the exercise is expected to provide TNG Digital a valuation of over US$ 700 million and they could potentially end up raising US$ 250 million by end of 2021. If this deal materialises, TNG’s fundraising round will eclipse the current largest fintech funding round of US$ 70 million, a record that is held by its e-wallet competitor, Boost. The…