Author: Fintech News Malaysia

Blockchain development company Hashstacs (STACS), announced that it has completed the blockchain proof-of-concept (POC) with Malaysia’s national stock exchange, Bursa Malaysia, to facilitate the growth of the bond marketplace at the Labuan Financial Exchange (LFX). The POC was executed and tested together with Bursa Malaysia, alongside the Labuan Financial Services Authority (LFSA), Securities Commission of Malaysia (SC), China Construction Bank Corporation Labuan Branch (CCB Labuan), CIMB Investment Bank (CIMB) and Maybank. Together with CCB Labuan, CIMB and Maybank, the POC simulated several bond issuances which were all issued and managed on the STACS Blockchain. The POC focused on building awareness…

MDEC has collaborated with eleven fintech firms to ” further promote the financial health of B40 communities and SMEs “. The newly unveiled platform is known as eBerkat Marketplace currently consist of the following players: Senang PKS, microLEAP PLT, Fundaztic, Sedania As Salam, MYTHEO, Aspirasi, HelloGold, Vsure Life, Funding Societies, PolicyStreet, and Luno Malaysia. The participating companies comprise players who are operating in the following verticals: insurtech, P2P lending, islamic fintech, robo advisory, wealthtech, and cryptocurrency exchange. According to their statement, the eBerkat Marketplace’s main objective is to ensure everyone receives protection from financial or health insurance coverages, financial security…

COVID-19 has speeded up digital transformation by several years. According to a new McKinsey Global Survey of executives, companies across regions and industries have accelerated the digitalization of their customer and supply chain interactions, as well as of their internal operations, by three to four years. In the financial sector, companies are taking steps to catch up with the changes induced by the pandemic, putting in the effort to address the rapidly evolving landscape and provide customers with better digital-first and mobile experiences. In Asia, the pandemic has shifted consumers to contactless payment apps, and digital banking, leading most banks…

Ping An’s technology arm OneConnect announced today its expansion to Malaysia. In Hong Kong, One Connect is among the entities that secured a virtual banking license from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. Meanwhile in Singapore, it is also supporting the BEYOND consortium as a technology partner in their bid for a full digital banking license. Though it was only officially announced today, the tech company counts 3 local banks within its clientele. They’ve partnered with RHB to launch an AI-powered SME financing mobile app, it is working with CIMB Philippines to enhance their digital banking proposition, and in October they…

TransferWise announced today the expansion of their international money transfer service for customers in Malaysia who can now receive remittances from Indonesia and send MYR to Alipay users in China. The newly launched service in Indonesia is in partnership with local remittance company Instamoney. In September, TransferWise made it cheaper for customers to send money to MYR or any of these other nine Asian currencies — INR, THB, IDR, CNY, PKR, VND, KRW, LKR, or — BDT. For some currency routes, they said the price drop can be as high as 30%. The company has also gone live on DuitNow,…

Luno, the first Securities Commission-approved digital asset exchange in Malaysia, announced today that the company has processed over RM 827 million worth of transactions in Malaysia since its relaunch in 2019. Claiming it is the largest digital asset exchange in Malaysia, Aaron Tang, Country Manager, Luno revealed that they have more than 180,000 users and over 90% of the local regulated digital asset exchange market share. The data excludes trading volume from unregulated crypto exchanges which are also relatively popular among Malaysian crypto investors. He said that Luno stores more than RM 165 million on behalf of its customers across…

Huawei announced that its mobile payment service, Huawei Pay, is now available to its Malaysian users. The same service was launched in Thailand in June 2020 This launch was in partnership with UnionPay International and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). It was first introduced in August 2016 in China as a mobile payment service rooted in Huawei Wallet, as part of the Huawei Mobile Services (HMS). Huawei Pay is one of the key services under the Huawei Wallet application that supports the Near Field Communication (NFC) payments in retail stores. Users can enable Huawei Pay by adding their…

Merchantrade Asia and the Construction Labour Exchange Centre Berhad (CLAB) have forged an alliance to facilitate cashless wages for both Malaysians and foreign workers in the construction industry. Through this collaboration, CLAB will facilitate contractors to pay salaries via top-up direct into Merchantrade Money Visa Prepaid Card, which is in line with the government’s initiatives in promoting cashless wages and reach the unbanked community. Merchantrade Asia is a digital money services business operator and e-money issuer, whilst CLAB is responsible for bringing and redistributing of foreign workers catering to the needs of organisations and companies in the construction industries. Merchantrade…

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, contactless payments have soared and digital banking adoption has increased dramatically. In Q1 2020, MasterCard recorded more than 40% growth in contactless transactions globally. In the US, which has traditionally lagged other countries in digital adoption, 35% of customers have increased their online banking usage during COVID-19, and banks have reported all-time highs in the number of mobile logins. In response to rapidly changing customer behaviors, banks around the world have significantly increased their focus and efforts on digital transformation, recognizing the importance of getting this right in order to remain competitive and gain or…

Payment solutions provider Revenue has secured a contract for the provisioning of the MyDebit tokenisation platform (TSP) for Payments Network Malaysia (PayNet). To formalise the deal, the company’s subsidiary Revenue Secure had signed an agreement with PayNet for the contract. Under the agreement, Revenue Secure will develop and implement the TSP for PayNet. PayNet is the national payments network and central infrastructure for Malaysia’s financial markets. Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) is PayNet’s single largest shareholder with 11 Malaysian banks as joint shareholders. Datuk Eddie Ng Chee Siong, the Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer of Revenue said upon completion,…

pitchIN hit a new equity crowdfunding milestone today when it recorded RM100 million funds raised for companies this week. This figure was reached by successfully hosting 74 companies who raised capital from nearly 5000 investors since 2016. pitchIN is the first Malaysian ECF platform to reach this milestone. To date, the ECF industry in Malaysia, which consists of 10 operators, is estimated to have raised around RM175 million in total. pitchIN CEO Sam Shafie says momentum is increasing. Nearly half of the RM100 million was raised in 2020, “It was a record breaking year at pitchIN. We achieved our entire…

China Construction Bank’s Labuan branch (CCB Labuan) has partnered with digital asset exchange firm Fusang to raise a US$ 3 billion bond on the blockchain. The bond will be issued by Longbond Ltd. a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) set up with the sole purpose of issuing digital bonds and depositing the proceeds to with CCB Labuan. The bank will be acting as the lead arranger and listing sponsor for this deal. This “Longbond” represents the first digital security to be listed on a public stock exchange that is directly accessible by retail investors, according to their media statement. This move…

Chevron Malaysia Limited, which markets the brand Caltex, announced its partnership with Shopee to enable contactless payments via the e-commerce platform’s mobile wallet, ShopeePay at more than 420 Caltex service stations nationwide. This partnership will allow customers to transact using ShopeePay when they fuel up or purchase items at participating Caltex service stations. Caltex is reportedly the first fuel provider in Malaysia to offer ShopeePay. This alternative payment option at Caltex aims to bring convenience and security for motorists as a secure mode of payment. Jay Gomez, Country Chairman for Chevron Malaysia said that this partnership is in line with…

CIMB Bank and CIMB Islamic Bank unveiled its BusinessHR.asia solution, offering an all-in-one human resources platform for business customers. Co-hosted with HReasily, a regional digital human resource solutions provider, the cloud-based solution has been created and designed with small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in mind, according to their statement. They further added that, BusinessHR.asia is designed to automate and simplify human resources tasks suited to the current working-from-home arrangements. The platform offers the ability to access and view salary slips as well as leave balances and employee expense reimbursements via mobile or desktop. Victor Lee Meng Teck, CEO, Group Commercial…

CapBay, a Malaysian P2P supply chain financing platform, has acquired a 49% stake in Kenanga Capital Islamic, a subsidiary of Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad, forming a joint venture with the latter to create an Islamic Supply Chain Finance fintech firm. Kenanga Capital Islamic was established as a subsidiary of the group in 2013 and is registered with the Ministry of Finance to finance government contracts and orders for companies that supply to the government and government-linked companies. This news follows their partnership announcement recently to digitise the factoring market for SMEs in Malaysia. With this acquisition, CapBay’s co-founder Ang Xing…

In Malaysia, adoption of wealthtech and alternative asset classes has increased over the past year, but in order for the sector to reach its full potential, there’s a need to raise financial literacy levels, experts said. In a virtual panel discussion hosted by Fintech News Malaysia earlier this month, senior executives from Kenanga Investment Bank, Funding Societies, pitchIN and Luno discussed the state of wealthtech in Malaysia, arguing that while consumers are growing accustomed to investing in equity crowdfunding, peer-to-peer (P2P) lending or even cryptocurrencies, financial illiteracy remained a major challenge, and perhaps the biggest one for the wealthtech industry…

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has revised its Guidelines on Digital Assets (Guidelines), which came into force today to regulate Initial Exchange Offerings (IEO) and Digital Asset Custodians (DAC). SC said that the Guidelines will facilitate the SC’s objectives in promoting responsible innovation in the digital asset space, while at the same time managing emerging risks and safeguarding the interests of issuers and investors. Earlier in January 2020, the SC had announced a framework to enable companies to raise funds via the issuance of digital tokens in Malaysia through an IEO platform registered by the SC. Under the Guidelines, IEO…

Kenanga Investment Bank has acquired 4.99% equity interest in Merchantrade, a Malaysian digital money services business operator and e-money issuer. This follows Kenanga’s recent collaboration with Merchantrade to introduce their own e-wallet, Kenanga Money. “Merchantrade is one of the fastest growing digital payment and remittance brands in the country. Constantly on the forefront of digitisation and driving innovation in financial services, they are rapidly making waves across Asia in a segment projected to experience exponential growth. We are excited to be able to partake in the flourishing prospects of Merchantrade and look forward to exploring more digital opportunities together,” commented…

United Overseas Bank Malaysia (UOB) has launched Mighty Insights, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based digital banking service to help their customers better manage their finances. Malaysia is the second market to launch Mighty Insights. The service is driven by the same digital capabilities used by UOB’s proprietary AI-driven predictive analytics engine and TMRW, UOB’s digital bank. With this latest update, customers will receive personalised insights based on their banking and spending patterns, enabling them to track and to manage their savings and expenses. Mighty Insights will also guide them to relevant financial solutions that can help them meet their financial needs.…

Merchantrade, a digital money services business operator and e-money issuer, has entered into a partnership with Alibaba’s Ant Group. The collaboration allows customers of Merchantrade in Malaysia and Singapore to facilitate real-time remittances to Alipay users in China, with funds reaching bank accounts linked to their Alipay app. Alipay is operated by Ant Group and is said to currently serve more than one billion users. The service is now available at Merchantrade’s 81 branches and over 450 of its agent locations in Malaysia. It is also available on Merchantrade’s remittance mobile app, eRemit Malaysia and soon will be available on…