Author: Fintech News Malaysia

The current property buying process in Malaysia is broken. Let’s say you want to purchase a property, you usually begin the process by looking at areas that you like or developers that you trust. After what is likely several months of finding that one home that is perfect for you, you go through the process of applying for a mortgage loan. Chances are many first-home buyers will either have their loans rejected or offered loan rates that are not favourable to them. This is problematic because, you’ll have restart the entire process again. Beyond just being a huge disappointment for…

Between insurance to credit card comparison sites, the realms of e-commerce have long gone beyond just Singles Day sales and ventured into avenues that used to require an agent and hidden fees. It seems like Mudah.my is attempting to jump onto this bandwagon. The online marketplace has inked a partnership with Lendela, a Singapore-based loan comparison company, to offer their services on the Mudah.my platform. With the partnership, customers are able to apply for loans directly on Mudah. Lendela uses a combination of customer details and direct integration with different lending sources as part of its algorithm. The goal is to…

MoneyMatch was recognised as one of three winners for the ASEAN SME category of the SG FinTech Awards in conjunction with the Singapore FinTech Festival 2018 from 12 – 16 November 2018. The FinTech Awards ceremony was witnessed by close to 40,000 attendees who attended the week-long annual international fintech gathering hosted by Monetary Authority of Singapore in collaboration with the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS). Other winners in the ASEAN SME category include fintech startups from Indonesia and Thailand. MoneyMatch was the only fintech startup representing Malaysia from a total of 40 shortlisted finalists, due to their win…

CIMB Group and Ripple have entered into a strategic collaboration to enable instant cross border payments across its various markets. On the back of this partnership, CIMB will join Ripple’s network RippleNet, which will facilitate access to other RippleNet members and allow CIMB to grow its cross-border payments business. This news follows MoneyMatch’s earlier completion of their first cross-border blockchain transaction via Ripple. Ripple’s blockchain-based solution has been deployed to enhance Speedsend, CIMB’s proprietary remittance product. This will expand CIMB’s SpeedSend network and open new payment corridors to improve consumer access to cross-border remittances, both inbound into ASEAN and outbound…

Singapore-based equity crowdfunding platform Fundnel has expanded to Malaysia. The announcement follows Fundnel’s appointment as a Recognised Market Operator by the Securities Commission Malaysia. Fundnel Malaysia aims to provide a comprehensive suite of capital raising services, targeted at local unlisted growth companies that form the backbone of the economy. This will include everyday businesses from the mom and pop cafés and retail stores to larger companies in the fields of education and wellness. The company claims to adopt a technology and data driven approach to connect quality businesses with growth capital, “The global economy is increasingly being shaped by SMEs,…

Telekom Malaysia Berhad,  through its business solutions arm, TM ONE, recently hosted an Artificial Intelligence Trade Mission from the UK at the TM ONE Experience Centre, in collaboration with the Department for International Trade (DIT) of British High Commissioner(BHC). 9 UK-based technology companies with various expertise in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cybersecurity, Data Analytics and Predictive Technology were part of the delegation. The companies are looking to expand their reach to the Malaysian market by establishing collaborative engagements with Malaysian enterprises and government agencies. By leveraging on TM’s  business rapport in the Enterprise and Public Sector, the collaborations to be established…

The information gap between financial investors in the capital market can create an unfair game of lottery for those who are not privy to organised and reliable data. Comprehensive financial access and tools can be expensive, financial data disorganised and information obtained from public figures questionable. Enter Stockbit, a fintech startup hailing from Indonesia, it recently launched their services in Malaysia to connect stock investors in a more reliable manner, while providing access to timely and transparent financial information via a one stop social networking platform. A Service Designed for First-Time and Veteran Investors In 2017, Malaysia saw its capital…

Of all of Budget 2019’s announcements, its peer-to-peer homeownership section has been the product of biggest contention. The FundMyHome scheme, which came surprisingly quickly following the budget’s announcement seems to be a very specific and very convenient extension of the budget announcement—raising the hackles and suspicion. Concerned netizens have pointed out that FundMyHome has similar language to that of Budget 2019’s homeownership proposal, but it’s important to clarify that they may end up completely different altogether. For one thing, Putrajaya’s approach is to issue a framework, which will only be launched in 2019, following discussions with the National House Buyers Association (HBA) before implementation. The HBA previously expressed concern…

During the Budget 2019 speech, YB Lim Guan Eng, Finance Minister, stated that Securities Commission Malaysia will be coming up with a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, though not much details beyond the fact that it will be gazetted in 2019. Seeking clarification we reached out to Securities Commission Malaysia to get further details on the matter. In statement issued to Fintech News Malaysia, Securities Commission Malaysia confirms that they are indeed developing a regulatory framework for both ICOs and digital asset exchanges which will come into effect in the 1st quarter of 2019. The statement also indicates that the regulator also…

Singaporean company StashAway has arrived in Malaysia, bringing their artificial intelligence-enabled investing platform here. Basically, instead of having to pay high fees to get a human portfolio manager to plan your next investments, StashAway leaves the brunt of this work to data-driven AI, which allows them to offer these services for relatively lower costs to the general public. Perhaps coincidentally, Ambank announced that they’ll be offering robo-advisors in 2019. It is often said that robo-advisors could serve as a doorway for the average person to join the seemingly complicated investment world. The technology is able to reduce the costs of…

Taylor’s University recently announced that they will be including blockchain in its syllabus thanks to a partnership between them and NEM. The scope of the partnership will see NEM assisting the university in the creation of a blockchain syllabus in its Taylor’s University School of Computing and IT (SOCIT). According to NEM, by providing industry expertise and feedback they will be able to help Taylor’s University further enhance and facilitate the creation of the syllabus. Both parties will also be working together to create the “Taylor’s University Blockchain Lab”, where all blockchain related projects will be conducted. Students involved with the…

Peoplender, the company behind the Fundaztic P2P Financing platform, has become the fastest ever funded equity crowdfunding deal in Malaysia. The company raised RM3 million in just 38 minutes on pitchIN. 64 investors put in the maximum allowed RM3 million into Fundaztic when it went live on 17 October 2018. The deal was confirmed fully funded by pitchIN after it completed the mandatory 6 days cooling off period today. Fundaztic CEO Kristine Ng said: “We are overwhelmed with joy to see the love investors have shown us. When we planned this fundraising round, we felt that our Elite Club members,…

Here’s where we stand on this DuitNow function that was launched by PayNet, and will be adopted by 44 banks by 6th December 2018—honestly this should have happened much sooner, and it is a step in the right direction towards moving Malaysia into our cashless future. Similar functions, such as Singapore’s NETSPay has been launched in other countries already, and Malaysia is now finally coming aboard what seems to be an outdated function for those familiar with fintech overseas. But many on Malaysians are rightfully confused. The automatic opt-in method has left a sour taste in many Malaysians’ mouths—many who…

Funding Societies has announced that they will be launching financial services to complement their usual P2P funding platform—this time targeted at solving cashflow issues inundating SMEs. When conducting regular business, SMEs may face issues collecting invoices, especially when dealing with large corporates as the paperwork and bureaucracy involved in the process of releasing payment could take some time—sometimes months. Bigger companies may have the floating funds needed to keep them going through that entire process, but SMEs may lack that same runway. Funding Societies’ Solution, in Essence, is an SME Loan So Funding Societies’ solution is to provide up to…

Following the rollout of Open Banking regulations in the UK and the launch this year of the EU’s Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2), countries across the Asia-Pacific region are following suit to establish their own frameworks to enable banks to share select customer data with third-party providers (TPPs), and TPPs to run transactions on customer accounts. Regulatory Developments As in Singapore, Malaysia’s approach to Open Banking, while less comprehensive than that of its city-state neighbour, has been to establish a non-mandatory framework and to support banking transformation with the creation of implementation teams. There are currently no timelines for implementation.…

Depsite having their co-founder recently step-down, Soft Space is showing no signs of slowing down. The payments company widely regarded as one of the leading payments fintech company in Malaysia has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Jewel Paymentech, a financial risk technology company. This partnership is aimed at combining the technological strengths of both companies through the use of open application programming interfaces (APIs). Soft Space plans to capitalise on Jewel Paymentech’s suite of financial risk solutions for third-party acquiring services, which includes its merchant electronic “Know-Your-Customer” (eKYC) and on-boarding platform as well as its fraud protection technology.…

Last friday, some of you may have gotten a potentially questionable text from your banks—that your phone number might be integrated with something called ‘DuitNow’, and that you’re given a specific amount of time to opt out. Many Malaysians were rightfully concerned, as many of them have not heard anything about DuitNow apart from a text informing them that they have been included. But DuitNow is actually an initiative by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), and an extension of the ICTF Framework that we keep talking about. The service was developed Paynet which is jointly owned by 11 banks, with BNM…

Following MoneyMatch’s earlier announcement that they will be embracing Ripple’s blockchain to power their payments in April, the fintech startup has recently announced that they have successfully conducted their first ever live cross-border transaction out of Malaysia on the blockchain According to a statement issued by MoneyMatch they have been working closely together with the Ripple engineering the past few months to be fully integrated into the RippleNet xVia platform. In this transaction, MoneyMatch claimed to have helped a retail user convert MYR to EUR at a significantly lower cost than a bank’s traditional telegraphic transfer. They also added that,…

Fundaztic announced that they will be raising RM 3 Million via equity crowdfunding platform, pitchIN — which is the maximum sum permitted by Securities Commissions Malaysia to be raised on an equity crowdfunding platform. This is perhaps the first time in the region that a P2P lending player will be raising funds through a crowdfunding platform. The campaign will go live on pitchIN on 17th October 2018. Why is a P2P Platform raising funds on an ECF platform? Kristine Ng, CEO, Fundaztic, expressed that while they could have easily secured funding through VCs and PEs, they have instead opted for ECF…

It’s official, Chang Chew Soon, co-founder and Group CEO will be stepping down from Soft Space effective 13th November 2018. He will also relinquish his role as director, though remain in the company as a shareholder. The Soft Space board of directors have decided that there will be no replacement for the recently vacated spot. In a press release, Soft Space attempts to assuage concerns by stating that day-to-day operations will not be impacted. Joel Tay, CEO of Soft Space and Chris Leong, CEO of Fasspay (a subsidiary of Soft Space) with continue to assume their leadership position in both…