Author: Fintech News Malaysia

Merchantrade, a digital money services business operator and e-money issuer, has acquired a 100% stake in Valyou from the Norwegian Telenor Group following a competitive bidding exercise. Valyou is a mobile fintech player in Malaysia and a cross-border digital remittance service provider and e-money issuer. The company is said to serve a customer base of over 1 million through its online and app-based digital channels and physical network comprising of 22 branches, 20 agents and 1,200 cash-in cash-out merchants. Managing Director Ramasamy K Veeran, said that following the completion of the acquisition, the businesses, operations and staff force of Valyou…

Valyou, Malaysian digital remittance provider, announced the launch of blockchain-based remittance services in Bangladesh in partnership with Standard Chartered and bKash, a mobile financial service provider, to facilitate instant transfers from Malaysia. The service is powered by blockchain technology from Ant Group. Its applies blockchain technology helps streamline the remittance process, boost the speed of delivery, improve information security and enhance transparency of the process. Wage earner remittance by Bangladeshi nationals working abroad is one of the key pillars to the Bangladesh economy and a major contributor to the nation’s foreign currency reserve. Malaysia is an important part of this…

Onfido bags MyCash Money as its latest customer in the region, providing the company identity verification and authentication services. Besides MyCash, Onfido also counts fintechs like BigPay and MoneyMatch among its base of customers in Malaysia. MyCash Money, is an e-marketplace designed for migrants in Malaysia and Singapore that is helping to drive financial inclusion by offering secure and convenient online services to foreign workers in said countries who do not have access to online banking or credit cards. By integrating Onfido’s verification service, MyCash Money users are able to sign up by taking a photo of their government-issued identity document…

Hong Leong Bank announced today the roll out of its “Hong Leong Tap on Phone” solution, which enables Android mobile devices to be used a card payment acceptance device. This new contactless feature is made possible through a partnership with Payment Networks Malaysia (“PayNet”) powered by Soft Space, with an aim to bring down the cost of going cashless even more for businesses. PayNet together with SoftSpace started piloting this solution in October 2018. Since then they’ve also worked with Maybank and Hong Leong Bank to roll out similar services. The new contactless payment solution is touted to be a…

From September 10 to 12, 2020, Huawei will be hosting its annual developer conference, a multi-day event expected to bring together more than 400 industry veterans and over 500 tech firms to discuss the latest trends and technologies set to transform software and app development. For this year, the Huawei Developer Conference 2020 (Together) will delve into some of the emerging technologies and how companies and developers must prepare for the new era of intelligence and interconnectivity. It will also include an exciting line-up of announcements, with Huawei set to share the latest on HMS Core 5.0, HarmonyOS, and EMUI…

CapBay, a P2P supply chain financing platform, became the first and only fintech selected to be part of Telekom Malaysia’s (TM) Vendor Financing Programme known as Perintis. CapBay said it will aim to provide fast, affordable and fair access to supply chain finance solutions, bridging the cash flow gap for all levels and sizes of vendors throughout TM’s supply chain, including its SME subcontractors. This comes on the heels of TM’s announcement earlier this month that they had partnered with 14 other financial institutions to provide training and development for vendors to improve themselves. The selected institutions will provide financing…

Axiata Digital’s e-wallet Boost has introduced a suite of affordable and accessible micro insurance/takaful coverage under ‘Boost Protect’. This new feature available under the ‘Insurance’ tile in the app marks Boost’s foray into expanding the use of its e-wallet beyond just payments and into digital financial services. Exclusive to Boost users, it offers a variety of coverages that can be easily viewed and purchased on the app. The coverages are powered by Aspirasi and underwritten by Great Eastern’s General Insurance, Life Assurance and Takaful. In June, Great Eastern had invested US$70 million in Axiata Digital acquiring a stake of 21.875%,…

Fi Life announced the expansion of its existing 20-year level term life insurance policy to 10-year, 15-year, 25-year and 30-year level terms. These level term policies underwritten by Tokio Marine Life Insurance Malaysia Bhd is in addition to the yearly renewable term introduced in 2015. With this expansion, consumers can opt for a life insurance policy where premiums are fixed for the duration of the term they have chosen. For example, if a customer chooses a 30-year level term Fi Life policy, they will pay the same level premium for the next 30 years. If she instead chooses a 10-year…

E-wallet operator Boost said in a media statement that Malaysian consumers have embraced a digital lifestyle and made contactless payments as the key payment method during the Recovery Movement Order (RMCO). This comes as Boost is reporting 140% increase in Gross Transaction Value (GTV) in August 2020 compared to the same period last year on August 2019. The e-wallet is also seeing 77% monthly increase in GTV after the MCO period between April to August. Its recently launched Boost Payment Link, a contactless payment solution developed for MSME merchants has also seen an increase in transactions by 21 times to-date.…

AirAsia Group is increasingly shifting its focus from aviation to its digital businesses as pandemic continues to batter its revenue. During its 2nd quarter financial results announcement, the group reported a 98% decline in year-on-year revenue. On the other hand, it’s digital financial service arm, BigPay is reportedly seeing a 469% spike in its remittance volume in the first half of 2020. Sources from Fintech News have also similarly observed other digital remittance players in Malaysia enjoying an increase in remittance transaction within their platform. In the second quarter of 2020, BigPay also saw a 11% increase in revenue with…

Changing customer expectations, the rise of big techs, and COVID-19 are accelerating banks’ digital transformation, forcing them to upgrade their infrastructure to meet the requirements of the data-intensive era, experts said. At the Huawei APAC FSI Data Storage Summit virtual event, experts from Huawei and China Construction Bank Asia discussed the need for the financial services industry to respond rapidly to the long-lasting market changes that have been brought in by COVID-19. These not only include rising demand for contactless and remote services, but also includes changing working conditions. During a panel discussion on the future of banking, Johnny Chung, general manager…

JurisTech, today announced its acquisition of iMoney. JurisTech is a leading Malaysian based company, specialising in enterprise-class software solutions for banks, financial institutions, insurance providers, and telecommunications companies. iMoney’s websites and services are used by millions of consumers in Malaysia to compare loans and other financial products. This announcement follows reports of iMoney’s largest shareholder iSelect exiting the company. According to The Edge, the ASX-listed iSelect reportedly held 84.3% stake in iMoney. “We are delighted to have iMoney join us in our journey to expand our innovation by offering beyond just enterprise solutions to our clients. We are now poised…

GHL Systems Berhad (GHL) and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) today announced a new partnership through the i3 Program, which is funded by MetLife Foundation, to focus on designing affordable financial solutions for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Malaysia. “Together with the technical know-hows and experience of UNCDF, we are excited to extend a broad range of financial products and services to the MSMEs segment,” said GHL Group CEO, Danny Leong. With their already strong footprint of reaching over 244,000 payment touchpoints across Malaysia, GHL provides beyond just payments, adding an array of value added services…

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) signed a fintech cooperation agreement with Indonesia’s Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK) to establish a collaborative framework to develop the fintech ecosystem in both markets. OJK Indonesia is an Indonesian government agency that regulates and supervises the financial services sector, which includes banking, capital markets, and non-bank financial industries sectors. The agreement between the SC and OJK aims to facilitate information sharing on emerging trends and regulatory developments in fintech, provide joint innovation project opportunities and facilitate referrals of fintech businesses seeking to operate in each other’s jurisdiction. It was signed by SC Chairman Datuk Syed…

In just two years of commercial operation, Australian wealthtech startup PictureWealth has grown to more than AUD$2 billion in funds under advice, annualized revenues of AUD$20 million, and a client base of over 40,000 customers. This year only, the fast-growing startup has done 15 acquisitions, and just recently closed a AUD$12 million late-seed funding round to help it to pursue its ambition to reinvent the financial advisory landscape in Australia. “When we look at the market, there are a lot of robo-advisors, but they are not really dealing with people’s hopes and fears,” Neal Cross, co-founder and chairman of PictureWealth,…

Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad’s (“KIBB”) subsidiary, Kenanga Capital Islamic Sdn Bhd (KCI) has partnered with digital supply chain financing company, Bay Group Holdings Sdn Bhd (CapBay), in a bid to digitise the traditional factoring market in Malaysia. Registered and regulated by the Securities Commission of Malaysia since its inception in 2016, CapBay is known for its its P2P financing platform. Entrepreneurs in the country seeking to finance its invoices and receivables, regardless if they are from the public or private sector, will have a fully digital end-to-end online platform to access cash flow, fast financing including peer-to-peer financing unlocking their…

When it comes to fintech regulation, regulators in Malaysia have taken an activity-based approach that considers the sorts of businesses financial companies conduct. Depending on the nature of these business activities, startups will know whether they fall under Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) supervision or not, as well as which piece of regulation they must comply with, Suhaimi Bin Ali, director of the Financial Development and Innovation Department at BNM, said during the launch of Fintech Booster in early August “We regulate [based] on activities,” Suhaimi explained during his session at The Orbit. “So if [the] activities [you conduct] fall into…

Fundaztic, a peer-to-peer financing (P2P) platform, partners with Lazada to deliver an interest-free financing program for Lazada sellers under the government’s ePENJANA initiative for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (‘MSME’). The initiative aims to support an estimated 30,000 unique local MSMEs to digitalise amidst the disruption to businesses caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. MSMEs are especially vulnerable during these difficult times. In particular, traditional businesses might find it challenging to begin the digital transformation process without sufficient support. Hence, the interest-free financing programme aims to alleviate some pressure off the MSMEs in this regard. “Being a fully digitalised platform…

HSBC launched its Voice ID solution for customers in Malaysia, stating that it is the first country in Southeast Asia where the bank has introduced this capability. Voice ID is an advanced voice biometric technology which allows customers to verify their identity using voice recognition capabilities. It also provides access to their phone banking services in a quicker, safer and more convenient manner. Voice ID makes banking simpler for customers as they will no longer need to remember passwords or answers to security questions and will instead use their voice to identify themselves. Eligible phone banking customers can simply register…

RHB announced today a partnership with  Finology to enable instant online approval for mortgage loan applications through Loanplus. Developed by Finology, Loanplus is a patented solution that enables property developers and real estate agents to help customers obtain their pre-approved mortgages with banks at the point of property purchase. With the pre-filtering solution in place, RHB will be able to interact directly with customers who have received mortgage pre-approvals. This platform extends the capabilities of the RHB MyHome App for property buyers, and further expands the current offerings within the RHB Homeowners Ecosystem. In addition to the end-to-end mortgage application…