Author: Fintech News Malaysia

Maybank Indonesia and Islamic lifestyle application Muslim Pro have launched Amanah Pro. The Islamic Banking-as-a-Service (iBaaS) platform helps users prepare financially for Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages. The integration allows Muslim Pro users in Indonesia to access banking services without visiting a physical branch. The feature is the first of its kind introduced within the Muslim Pro platform and is supported by Maybank Indonesia’s Shariah Business Unit. Amanah Pro uses Banking-as-a-Service technology developed by Audax, enabling non-bank partners to offer banking services within their existing digital platforms. This model allows the public to access Shariah-compliant financial services directly from community apps…

CIMB Group is selling its Thai unit’s auto financing portfolio to Krungsri as it shifts capital towards higher-return banking segments. The portfolio will be sold to Bank of Ayudhya Public Company Limited and its subsidiary, collectively known as Krungsri, at a modest premium to adjusted net book value. The sale is part of CIMB’s Forward30 strategy to exit non-core businesses and reallocate capital across its ASEAN franchise. It also forms part of CIMB Thai’s wider transformation programme, which includes operating model changes, branch and cost base optimisation, portfolio rebalancing, and a shift towards wealth management and regional wholesale banking. The…

Aleta Planet has secured two new Bank Negara Malaysia licences, allowing it to expand beyond card acquiring into remittance and e-money services. The Money Services Business Class B and E-Money Issuer licences add to its existing merchant acquirer licence in Malaysia, which allows the company to process credit and debit card payments. The Singapore fintech noted that the approvals will support its Malaysia expansion, where it plans to establish its second ASEAN hub after Singapore. Ryan Gwee, Founder and Group Chairman of Aleta Planet, said, “Securing this approval from Bank Negara Malaysia is a key milestone for Aleta Planet as…

TNG Digital will stop supporting debit card-linked Quick Payment and Auto Reload on TNG eWallet from 13 May 2026. The change, reported by SoyaCincau, affects users who rely on debit cards for automatic top-ups. Credit card users are not affected. Debit card users can still reload manually through the app. Other reload methods include DuitNow Transfer, credit cards and reload PINs. TNG Digital had paused the debit card features while reviewing transaction performance before deciding to remove support for them, citing reliability concerns. Users switching to credit cards should note that TNG eWallet charges a 1% convenience fee for reloads…

A company secretary has been fined RM50,000 after Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) found AMLA breaches tied to suspicious transaction reporting and company filings. BNM and CCM conducted a joint investigation into the suspected involvement of several company secretaries in an international scam syndicate. BNM found that Ardzlyn Hawatul Yuhanis Uyob@Ayob, a company secretary through Continuum Corporate House Sdn. Bhd., had failed to submit two Suspicious Transaction Reports to the central bank. The transactions involved foreign nationals associated with MB International Sdn. Bhd. and Ascent GT Sdn. Bhd. As a reporting institution under the…

Hata Digital has obtained Shariah certification for its digital asset platform, making it the first digital asset exchange in Malaysia to obtain the certification. The company is licensed and regulated by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) as a digital asset exchange. The Shariah-compliance certification was issued by Amanie Advisors Sdn. Bhd., Hata’s appointed Shariah adviser, and is not endorsed by the SC. The review covered Hata’s Digital Broker and Exchange services, as well as the screening of digital assets offered on the platform. It also assessed wallet services, trustee account arrangements, the treatment of unallocated deposits, staking services, fees and…

Standard Chartered Malaysia has turned to CFO Mushahid Syed to steer the bank on an interim basis as CEO Mak Joon Nien prepares to exit. Mak will step down on 8 May after nearly four years as CEO, according to a report by The Edge. The bank attributed his departure to an external opportunity. His exit also covers board roles at Standard Chartered Malaysia Bhd, Standard Chartered Saadiq Bhd and other related entities. Mushahid will keep his CFO role while taking on interim leadership of the Malaysia franchise as Interim CEO and Head of Coverage. He will oversee the business…

Less than 1% of transactions are agentic today. Trulioo’s CPO believes that could reach 75% within a year, and most of the industry has no trust framework in place. Zach Cohen is the Chief Product Officer at Trulioo, a global identity verification platform that helps financial services companies verify identities and govern transactions across international markets. He leads product strategy at the intersection of AI governance, fraud prevention, and digital identity, and joins FNN to explain what the financial industry is missing as agentic commerce moves from theory to live deployment. In this episode: Why agentic commerce could jump from…

V Systems Malaysia announced that it was engaged by Khazanah Nasional for Malaysia’s first tokenised sukuk pilot programme. The pilot involved a RM100 million issuance under Khazanah’s Sukuk Danum Programme, an Islamic medium-term notes programme of up to RM20 billion. The issuance was carried out in collaboration with the Securities Commission Malaysia and uses distributed ledger technology to create a digital record of the underlying sukuk. V Systems supported the initiative by helping design the frameworks, workflows and control processes for the programme. Aeris Chain to Support Domestic Tokenisation Initiatives The company added that the programme was built on Aeris…

Banks across Asia Pacific are navigating a period of rapid change in the payment ecosystem. Mobile wallets, digital commerce, and real-time payments have become part of everyday financial activity. The shift toward alternative payment methods is accelerating, with Accenture estimating that up to US$13 trillion in transaction value could move away from traditional banking channels by 2030. At the same time, cards continue to play a critical role in powering online transactions, digital wallets, and international payments.  For many financial institutions in the region, however, innovation is constrained by legacy infrastructure. Core systems that were originally designed decades ago remain…

DuitNow QR transaction volumes more than doubled in 2025 to three billion transactions, as QR payments became a preferred option for consumers and merchants in Malaysia. Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) Governor Dato’ Sri Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour said the growth of QR payments reflects a wider shift towards faster and more seamless digital payments, with e-money usage in Malaysia outpacing the growth trajectory of payment cards in 2025 by 10%. QR payments have gained traction due to their convenience, cost effectiveness and ease of use, while Malaysians now make more than one digital payment a day on average, compared with about…

Visa has launched Agentic Ready in Malaysia with Alliance Bank, CIMB and Maybank to help card issuers prepare for AI-initiated payments. The programme is part of Visa’s wider Asia Pacific rollout focused on agentic commerce, where AI agents may initiate and complete transactions on behalf of consumers. In its first phase, Visa Agentic Ready will focus on issuer readiness. Banks will be able to test agent-initiated transactions in a controlled, production-grade environment as part of the readiness phase. The programme uses Visa’s existing network capabilities, including tokenisation, identity, risk management and payment controls, to examine how these transactions could be…

OceanBase will open a new global support center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as part of its international expansion, alongside its international headquarters in Singapore. The Malaysia center will provide services including solution architecture and technical support, with the aim of supporting global customers and strengthening business continuity. The move follows OceanBase’s GO GLOBAL GO Program, launched in October 2025 to expand its products, services, sales and marketing operations internationally. OceanBase now serves more than 4,000 customers globally, including more than 100 fintech customers and over 400 financial institutions. Its fintech clients include e-wallets such as TNG Digital in Malaysia and…

What does it take to launch a full digital bank in under a year and have it outperform 70 physical branches? Bank Muamalat’s Atlas did exactly that. Built in just 9 months, it onboarded 61% new-to-bank customers in its first six months and delivers the same customer acquisition power as 70 physical branches from a single app. Vincent Fong sits down with Hazrizal Hasan, Head of Digital Banking at Bank Muamalat Malaysia, and Chirag Amla, Principal Solutions Architect for APAC at Mambu, to unpack how they pulled it off and what comes next for Islamic banking. In this episode: How…

Bank Muamalat has launched ATLAS, a Shariah-compliant digital banking platform that lets customers open and manage savings accounts without visiting a branch. The platform includes a Shariah-compliant savings solution and a Savings Pouch feature offering a profit rate of up to 2.25 percent per annum. ATLAS also offers lifestyle features for Muslim users, including prayer times, daily supplications, Al-Quran access, kiblat direction and mosque locators. Bank Muamalat plans to add aqiqah and qurban services in future updates. The launch follows Bank Muamalat’s earlier digital overhaul, which included a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud and plans to integrate its systems with…

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) fines Zurich Malaysia’s insurance and takaful units a combined RM1.56 million for sanctions screening failures. Zurich General Insurance Malaysia Berhad (ZGIMB) was fined RM1.04 million, while Zurich General Takaful Malaysia Berhad (ZGTMB) received a RM520,000 penalty. BNM imposed both penalties on 19 January 2026, with both entities settling their fines on 26 January. Outdated database at the root of the breach As reporting institutions, both Zurich entities are required to screen existing, potential and new customers against the Domestic List and the United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR) List as part of their customer due diligence…

Takaful Malaysia Am has partnered Handshakes to strengthen data-driven compliance and risk monitoring in Malaysia’s takaful sector. The companies signed a memorandum of understanding to integrate corporate intelligence, Ultimate Beneficial Ownership (UBO) governance and risk insights into Takaful Malaysia Am’s onboarding, due diligence and ongoing monitoring processes. The partnership comes as Bank Negara Malaysia tightens scrutiny of AML compliance across Malaysia’s takaful and financial sector, covering anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism financing, counter-proliferation financing and targeted financial sanctions requirements. The integration is expected to provide clearer visibility into ownership structures and help identify risk exposure earlier across the customer lifecycle. Handshakes will…

PayNet is extending MyDebit into mobile wallets with support from IDEMIA Secure Transactions’ tokenisation platform. The rollout gives participating banks a way to offer tokenised MyDebit card payments through digital wallets. Eleven banks are offering the capability to their cardholders. AmBank customers are the first to add their MyDebit cards to a major mobile wallet for contactless and in-app payments, with other banks expected to follow. The IDEMIA Secure Transactions platform replaces sensitive card details with a unique digital token, allowing transactions to be processed without exposing actual card information. It supports mobile NFC, in-app and online payments. PayNet’s MyDebit…

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has introduced a RM5 billion facility to support SMEs and microenterprises affected by the West Asia conflict. The facility is aimed at helping businesses manage operational disruptions, cash flow pressures and short-term financial obligations. Under the SME Stabilisation Relief Facility (SME SRF), eligible businesses can obtain financing of up to RM750,000 for up to five years at a maximum rate of 3.75% per annum, inclusive of the guarantee fee. The financing will be supported by guarantees of up to 80% from Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia (CGC) or Syarikat Jaminan Pembiayaan Perniagaan (SJPP), particularly for SMEs without…

Maybank and CIMB played key roles in the first tokenised sukuk issuance in Malaysia, a RM100 million pilot by Khazanah Nasional Berhad in collaboration with the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC). The one-year issuance forms part of Khazanah’s Sukuk Danum Programme, an Islamic medium-term notes programme of up to RM20 billion based on the Shariah principle of Wakalah bi al-Istithmar. Maybank acted as Joint Lead Manager, Custodian and Primary Subscriber for the tokenised sukuk, while CIMB served as Sole Principal Adviser, Sole Lead Arranger and Sole Facility Agent. CIMB also supported the end-to-end issuance process, including the operational, technical and governance workflows…