Author: Fintech News Malaysia

Fi Life, an insurtech startup co-founded by BFM radio founder Malek Ali and Tan Jiann Meng went live today. The birth Fi Life is a result of the pair’s recent acquisition of U For Life from German reinsurer Hannover Re and New Zealand underwriting software company, Intelligent Life. A rebrand of U For Life, the newly launched insurtech offers insurance services through its mobile and desktop site. It provides life insurance coverage of up RM 1 Million. Users with problematic medical history might still be able to get cover, subject to assessment by Fi Life’s online underwriting questionnaire.* The current…

Bursa Malaysia is right now utilising blockchain in a proof of concept geared towards greater transparency and smoother operations in the securities borrowing and lending (SBL) market. The project aims to ramp up efficiency, speed and capacity in securities in the lending pool. This initiative could the gateway for Bursa Malaysia to undertake deeper explorations in blockchain technologies to address other operational challenges prevalent to SBL activities in Malaysia and discover more opportunities to drive end-to-end functionalities such as market interest discovery, trade capture and collateral management. Bursa’s stance is that blockchain brings about fundamental shifts in how the market…

GrabPay’s mobile QR payment will be accepted at GHL’s payment touchpoints soon according to an announcement issued by GHL today. Prior to this partnership GHL has also enabled CIMB Bank to accept QR payments from 6 major e-wallets. Through this tie-up, Grab will have access to GHL’s 70,000 merchant payment touch-points throughout Malaysia. Commenting on the partnership with Grab, GHL’s Group CEO, Danny Leong said, “We see strong synergies between GHL and GrabPay given our ASEAN base and focus. Our strategy is to enable our merchant base with a wide range of payment solutions which currently stands at more…

Ongoing until June, HSBC is hosting its HSBC Openlab Innovation Challenge to attract new talents, startups, designers, digital innovators and developers to come together and solve real-life retail banking challenges. Participants stand to win crash prizes up to RM8,000, followed by RM6,000 and RM4,000 respectively, Be it rethinking existing banking propositions by building a disruptive digital banking alternative, or redesigning banking processes by leveraging rich data, better UI/UX, and real time risk assessment, or even reinventing customer engagement through the digitisation of customer service—participants of the challenge are given the opportunity to work on their ideas using an openlab sandbox to…

HelloGold and Curlec announced today that they will be joining forces to automate monthly investments for HelloGold’s customers. Curlec’s Direct Debit solution will be deployed for HelloGold’s SmartSave program; a program that enables its users to buy gold at the lowest daily price based on their financial goals. “The partnership with HelloGold is an affirmation of our ongoing commitment to revolutionise the way businesses and consumers approach financial services. The importance of having sufficient savings within a tough economic environment is a key driver as to why HelloGold with Curlec’s Direct Debit payment solution will help Malaysians to easily save…

Due to a variety of reasons, Singapore’s EZ-Link and Malaysia’s Touch ‘n Go cards are synonymous with travel in their respective countries. With travel across the causeway so common among residents of both, it is about time for a new partnership between the two, slated for launch in Q4 2019. EZ-Link and Touch ‘n Go will soon issue a dual currency Combi Card–which will host both e-wallets from EZ-Link and Touch ‘n Go. For now, the Combi Card is planned for use to pay for electronic road pricing in Singapore, tolls in Malaysia, and parking, though the companies hint at potential…

MoneyMatch announced today they have been granted an approval in principle for a Class B remittance license from Bank Negara Malaysia. This makes MoneyMatch the first to receive an approval in principle among its sandbox peers, two of which has been listed as “ceased operation” in Bank Negara Malaysia’s website. This class B remittance license allows MoneyMatch to conduct digital remittance services for business and individuals. The fintech startup was also among the first to be granted approval to conduct eKYC to onboard new customers. MoneyMatch also announced that they have secured an investment round of over RM 2 Million…

Malaysia-based and run CoinGecko could have seen the writing in the stone for CoinMarketCap’s recent scandals, since it came out that as much as 95% of spot Bitcoin trading volume has been “faked”. Even during its founding in 2014, the two CoinGecko founders have run their website with transparency at its front and center. Today, CoinGecko claims to be the second biggest crypto data aggregator, tracking nearly 3,300 tokens from more than 260 cryptocurrency exchanges. The free website brings in between 9 million to 10 million monthly pageviews. Their secret? In addition to tracking price, volume and market capitalisation, CoinGecko tracks community…

Joining Malaysia’s increasingly crowded e-wallet scene was WeChat Pay, launched here in August last year. The arrival was notable as Malaysia was the first region targeted by the platform that helped to contribute to the ubiquity of e-wallets in China. Since then, it has been a quiet game of promotion and improving consumer stickiness in Malaysia, same as all other e-wallets. One notable push by WeChat Pay was its Angpao function at launch, which Alipay’s Jack Ma has once called it a “Pearl Harbour Attack” on Alibaba’s Alipay. In a bid to stand out from the crowd here in Malaysia, WeChat…

UOB Bank just launched an app that matches prospective property buyers with the bank’s team or mortgage specialists. Named UOB GetBanker, the app allows a property buyer or agent can search for a mortgage banker based on whether they are looking to purchase a residential or commercial property, the location and the price of the property. The buyer or agent, will then be matched with a mortgage banker on the same day. Once matched they can then rate the banker’s service thereafter and add this banker as a favourite banker for future reference. Through the UOB GetBanker app, property agents…

TurnKey Lender, a lending and loan origination company announces the opening of a new office Kuala Lumpur. Its main goal will be to physically represent TurnKey Lender and support the company’s operations in Asia. Fueled by funding from Malaysia-based OSK Ventures, the company plans on involving Malaysian professionals to provide technical support to the clients, streamline local and global business development, and fuel its R&D efforts. According to a press release, TurnKey plans to take advantage of Malaysia’s ecosystem that is “perfectly positioned” for a rapid growth of alternative lending in areas like peer-to-peer lending and in-house financing. They credit…

This list is now outdated, check out our 2020 list https://fintechnews.my/22684/various/fintech-events-in-malaysia-you-should-consider-attending-in-2020/ Malaysia is a home to a small, but robust fintech community, ranging from startup founders to bankers with a keen eye for technological advancements. With rapidly evolving regulations in a nascent but vibrant space, and increasing interest from entrenched finance players, is always a good idea to keep abreast of developments in the region one is operating in, if not for nothing, at least to commiserate about fintech issues with like-minded fellows. Some of the fintech events to look out for are: SCxSC Fintech Conference The SCxSC Fintech Conference…

Celebrus Advisory, a consulting firm for blockchain technology has been named one of the Top 10 Best Blockchain Technology Consulting/Service Companies in Asia Pacific for 2019. This recognition is bestowed by APAC CIO Outlook, a Silicon Valley-based trade journal for CIOs, CTOs and other senior level IT buyers across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. It identifies and profiles emerging companies providing cutting-edge solutions to enterprises in APAC, by conducting in-depth background research on hundreds of vendors for every technology and industry vertical. Celebrus, a company registered and based in Malaysia, joins an elite group of past winners  such as Huobi…

“Buying a [car] is such a long and frustrating process,” lamented Arnold Aranez, CEO and founder of Cendol Technologies. “When I bought my second-hand car, the original importer put the wrong model details so when I tried to sell it was difficult to get correct price.” The problem that Arnold described is so mundane that it’s usually considered par for the course. The sheer number of forms one has to fill out— both on the consumer and distributor’s side— naturally leads to human error during data input and transfer even under the best of circumstances. So Arnold and co-founder Mark Leung looks to…

Curlec, an online Direct Debit payments company has announced the completion of their seed funding round, led by Captii Ventures. It plans to use this fresh capital to further grow their Malaysian operations and take their online Direct Debit payments platform to the mass SME market. Launched in early 2018, Curlec enables businesses to collect recurring payments. They claim to have processed  in excess RM50 million worth of transactions and now serves companies such as CTOS, Funding Societies, HelloGold as well as a wide range of SMEs. Whilst Direct Debit has been widely available since 2010, Curlec claims that their solution…

Razer today announced the official opening of its new country headquarters in Malaysia, housing over 280 employees within The Vertical at UOA Corporate Towers. The event was graced by Malaysia’s Minister for Finance Lim Guan Eng, as well as Minister for Youth and Sports Syed Saddiq bin Syed Abdul Rahman. The appeal to e-sports is obvious, but Razer has fintech ambitions in mind for its Malaysian entity. “Razer will be investing in Malaysia as a hub for our fintech efforts in South East Asia,” said Min-Liang Tan, co-founder and CEO of Razer. “It is the first country in the…

Between Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) ICTF and the more recently announced Real-Time Retail Payments (RPP) system, an ecosystem rife with Malaysians with at least a debit card, and e-wallets to target those who do not; Malaysia seems to be well underway towards becoming a cashless society. This is all part of BNM’s goal towards accelerating the country’s migration towards e-payments, and in turn, allow the nation to save paper costs and increase efficiency of the nation’s payment systems. BNM even has a 10-year plan that will culminate in 2020 with the following as a goal: The bank is working towards increasing the number…

Singaporeans visiting Malaysia will now be able to make card payments using NETS ATM cards thanks a recent collaboration between Paynet and NETS. Currently, the payment acceptance for the NETS scheme is available to cards issued by Singaporean banks like DBS, POSB, OCBC and UOB at selected merchants in Johor. This includes shopping malls like JB City Square, KSL City and Sutera. By enabling Singaporeans to use the national debit card scheme, they no longer have to worry about foreign transaction fees. This move will likely increase the use of card payments by Singaporeans once the acceptance becomes more ubiquitous.…

Gold-based savings platform HelloGold has announced their expansion into Africa, with the help of a digital financial inclusion group Baobab as their partner. Baobab serves a similar goal to HelloGold, which is financial inclusion for those in Africa and China via user-friendly financial services. Baobab choosing to extend their offerings into gold savings is a clear appeal of the partnership, while HelloGold gains a partner in-the-know about the African market that already has a strong foothold. Together, HelloGold and Baobab will develop products for Baobab’s 800,000 strong customers across nine countries in Africa. The end-goal is for Baobab to expand its…

MyCash Online is a marketplace designed to help the massive swaths of migrants in Malaysia and Singapore that do not have access to online banking or credit cards. This goal allowed the platform to gain a significant footing in Malaysia’s fintech, as they designed services catered to the needs of these segments. Since their launch, MyCash Online has begun to see some competition in solving the migrant remittance gap for those working in Malaysia—showcasing potential for this underserved gap to turn into a verifiable market segment. Now if we’re right, it seems like the remittance platform is now turning to target Malaysian migrants working…