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NETSPay has been launched in other countries already, and Malaysia is now finally coming aboard what seems to be an outdated function for those familiar with fintech overseas.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…
Author: Fintech News Malaysia
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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…
According to SKMM, Malaysia’s smartphone penetration grew from 68.7% in 2016 to 75.9% in 2017, and by all measures, will most likely show an upwards trend this year too. This puts our smartphone penetration at a slightly higher value than the Southeast Asian average, and perhaps why China’s e-wallets have their eyes on us for expansion. We are, for now, the only nation in the world that is able to use WeChat pay in our local denomination. The environment is also fertile ground for payments in Malaysia to flourish, a renaissance of the e-commerce boom circa 2015 that led to…
Grab and Fave announced a strategic partnership for both parties to grow the respective platforms across the region. The partnership is aimed at capitalising on Grab’s user base of over 110 million downloads and Fave’s strong merchant network of over 5,000 acceptance points. Starting this week, Fave’s merchant sales team, will onboard merchants for GrabFood and GrabPay in Singapore and Malaysia. This will further accelerate the growth of respectively the fastest growing food delivery and mobile wallet services in these countries. Later in October, Fave will expand its platform with GrabPay mobile wallet. Aside from credit card or debit card,…
CIMB Bank has introduced Quick Response (QR) Payment Acceptance at CIMB terminals. The bank claims to be first in-market to introduce QR payment acceptance to accept six major mobile wallets on one terminal. The six mobile wallet partners to be accepted on CIMB terminal are Alipay, Touch & Go Digital, Boost, KiplePay, Mcash, and Vcash. These six mobile wallets have a combined estimated customer base of about 4.5 million in Malaysia and 520 million registered mainland Chinese users. With the trend of mobile payments, this alternative payment acceptance provides the convenience to merchants and customers who do not want to…
Individuals with an OCBC credit card and a lack of impulse control have become the bank’s latest market in their newly minted offering. Through a collaboration with Silicon Valley company Ondot, OCBC Bank is allowing its customers the ability to control their payment cards and preferences through a mobile app. Ondot is an API-based platform that allows users to exert control over their cards via a mobile app. According to the company, the architecture has been utilised by 3,500 financial institutions across the globe. The company’s services are more consumer-based, and can be done in real-time over their mobile phones.…
Besides ‘big data’ and ‘artificial intelligence’, the trendy buzzword in tech now is also blockchain, which the collective industry has finally realised can do more than just back cryptocurrency coins. And it is always interesting to see blockchain applications that are unique to a particular region. Based on the types of projects we found, there is an interesting correlation between Islam and Malaysia’s unique blockchain projects. Malaysia has always been one of the spearheaders of Islamic anything, from setting the standard to the international halal industry to pushing Islamic finance. In particular, there has been vast interest from locals in…
The second edition of the 12-week SuperCharger FinTech Accelerator Programme has begun. Launched at the Securities Commission Malaysia, ten international scale-ups from six countries were announced as part of the cohort for this year’s programme According to Supercharger, this is the result of an on ongoing partnership with Allianz Malaysia and the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). With over 200 companies from over 32 countries submitting applications to join the SuperCharger Malaysia 2018, the final 10 companies represent sub-sectors of financial technology such as insurance technology (InsurTech), regulatory technology (RegTech), payments, wealth management, artificial intelligence (AI), and compliance. The 10…
SuperCharger, a fintech-focused accelerator operating in KL and Hong Kong have come out with the first of their first Malaysian Fintech Ecosystem report outlining the uniquely Malaysian situations that shape the ecosystem here–particularly regarding trends and potential in the space. The report contains a breakdown of topics such as the progress of Islamic fintech, our potential as a fintech hub, regulation trends and a few other topics of consideration that could be a useful overview for those interested in the local scene. Among the report’s contents are also a series of observations by known figures in the startup and fintech…
KK Fund recipient PolicyStreet announced that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MDEC in a bid to provide affordable and customisable insurance to gig workers, like freelancers and those who make their living on the sharing economy–ride-sharing drivers or those who cook or clean via an app. This extension of their services may be seen as a natural course for PolicyStreet, an online insurance provider that aims to provide more affordable insurance plans to better insurance-educated Malaysians, primarily by cutting out the insurance agent middleman. PolicyStreet told Fintech News Malaysia that the insurance plans will be made available to…
The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has issued a notice for Dato’ Vida’s LaVida Coin to cease all promotional activities with immediate effect. This news follows the regulator’s previous announcement that it was reviewing LaVida Coin for possible breach of securities law. In a move to warn the general public on investing in unauthorised operators, the regulator has also added DSV Crypto Club, LUX Galaxies and VI Profit Galaxy to the SC’s Investor alert list, citing that they were found to be promoting LaVida Coin. Similarly Bank Negara Malaysia has also the same companies in its consumer watchlist. The ICO has…
There’s a housing crisis in Malaysia, and as of recent years has only grown worse. A contentious study released by Bank Negara Malaysia revealed that from 2016 to early 2017, only 24% of new property launches were in the range of approximately RM250k, which indicates an undersupply of affordable homes. Yet, there are still too many affordable homes that remain empty despite the high demand. Malaysia had plans to help fix the issue by selling 606,000 affordable homes by 2020, but it’s been three years into the project, and only 33% of the intended number of homes were sold. Existing…
With a regulator that has been described as open to innovation and disruption, a maturing tech scene, a mobile-friendly population, and a financial scene rife with incumbent and outdated technology, there is definitely a lot of potential in this region for fintech, if you’re hitting all the right notes. These factors and more make Malaysia an appealing market for VC investments. Despite dealing with finance though, it’s an open secret that fintech companies in Malaysia are ironically often strapped for cash. It’s not that there isn’t any money flowing into fintech companies, merely that they’re often focused on very specific…
The Fintech Association of Malaysia (FAOM) recently signed an MOU with RAMCI. The agreement will see both parties collaborating in providing preferential rates for RAMCI’s products and services to FAOM’s members. Members of the FAOM will be able enjoy a 20% discount for the first year’s subscription. RAMCI which is short for RAM Credit Information Sdn Bhd is a credit reporting agency licensed under Ministry of Finance. RAMCI provides credit information and advanced credit scores on individuals and businesses. Commenting on the partnership Raja Adam Malik, Vice President, FAOM, “We are pleased to take this step forward and strike a partnership with…