Following Bank Negara Malaysia’s previous announcement of Tan Sri Muhammad Ibrahim’s resignation as the governor, reports have confirmed that Datuk Nor Shamsiah will be appointed as the new governor of Bank Negara Malaysia and that the appointment has been approved by the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong. The embattled Tan Sri Muhammad Ibrahim was known for his initiatives in setting up the Fintech Enablement Group and Fintech Sandbox to drive the industry in Malaysia. At this juncture it is unclear if there will be a continued focus on similar fintech initiatives under her leadership. Fintech News Malaysia will continue to monitor initiatives…
Author: Fintech News Malaysia
Author
Fintech startups are multiplying and as we hear a lot about the successful ones, we often forget that it is not an easy task to turn a project or idea into a successful venture, and that, no matter how disruptive or innovative it may be. Watch out for these eight deadly mistakes fintech startups often make: Underfunding the Startup Underfunding is a killer and it usually strikes much quicker than the unsuspecting startup thought it would. Once a startup realizes it needs additional funding, they don’t take into account the amount of time before their company will actually begin to…
CIMB has appointed Hendra Lembong as Chief Fintech Officer with effect from 1 June 2018. Hendra will be replacing Olivier Crespin who hired in 2017 to head the newly set up fintech dedicated unit, CIMB Fintech.CIMB FinTech was launched in 2017 to drive innovation, as well as chart and execute the Group’s long term digital roadmap. In a previous interview with Fintech News Malaysia, Olivier shared that CIMB will be working towards deploying a digital-only bank in countries like Vietnam and Philippines, not unlike DBS’ Digibank in India and Indonesia, a project previously led by Olivier. It is unclear whether…
RHB Insurance Berhad (“RHB Insurance”) launches “RHB Insurance Mobile App”, which enables its customers to purchase motor insurance policy and road tax with just a single end-to-end mobile enabled application. RHB Insurance Mobile App, allows users to complete the purchase of their motor insurance policy in three 3 minutes, among the fastest in the financial industry. Through this app customers are able to obtain a quotation for their motor insurance policy, opt to renew road tax, comprehensive insurance coverage for their vehicles and as well as access round-the-clock auto assistance at the touch of their smartphone screens. “We are confident…
Got a fintech idea you’re dying to turn into reality? 1337 Ventures, in collaboration with MDEC and InnoStart Capital, will be launching their accelerator programme, Alpha Startups: Fintech Edition, this July. The Alpha Startup: Fintech Edition, which runs quarterly, accepts applications from startups of all stages, even those who are still at the ideation stage. The programme will teach you the ropes of entrepreneurship, starting your journey with the Lean Canvas, Market Validation, MVP Testing, User Experience Journey, Design Thinking, and Marketing. It’s no secret fintech space is heavily regulated in Malaysia, In order to equip entrepreneurs with the necessary…
A recent study conducted by research firm J.D Power shows that Maybank ranks highest with an overall satisfaction score of 77.3%. CIMB Bank is a close second with a score of 77% followed by Hong Leong Bank 75.6% who ranks third in the study. Since the study was fielded in March and April 2018, it might not reflect potential improved customer satisfaction from the recent launch of CIMB’s InstaApproval, which approves auto loans almost instantaneously. The 2018 Malaysia Auto Consumer Finance Study is based on responses from 2,504 new-car buyers who financed a vehicle in the past 12 months. The study…
Amidst rising interest in fintech, startups in this vertical have been dished a rude awakening to abide by tightening guidelines and protocols set by regulatory institutions. Disregarding stricter protocols, such as e-Know Your Customers (e-KYC), could be detrimental to all startups looking to compete in the fintech arena. To bridge the knowledge gap, the Financial Technology Enabler Group (FTEG), established by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), has organised quarterly regulatory bootcamps to educate industry players on evolving customer identification and verification procedures. The recent regulatory bootcamp curated by DOJO KL coworking space focused on Guidance to e-KYC in Malaysia. Supported by…
UOB Malaysia today announced it will partner with Funding Societies, a regional peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform Through the partnership, start-ups and UOB Malaysia’s small business customers can access Funding Societies’ global investor network to raise additional working capital. UOB Malaysia’s customers will be able to raise up to RM500,000 in capital directly from individual and institutional investors using Funding Societies’ online P2P platform without the need to pledge collateral. Raymond Chui, Executive Director and Country Head of Business Banking at UOB Malaysia, said that the partnership with Funding Societies reinforces the Bank’s commitment to support Malaysia’s small businesses as they…
CIMB Group today unveiled the CIMB 1-Minute Auto Financing InstaApproval™, a digital platform that approves auto financing within one minute upon full submission of information and documents. This marks the latest addition to CIMB’s InstaApproval™ series, which also features the 1-Minute Home Financing InstaApproval™. This series offers a fast, secure, paperless and complete online financing approval process involving, among others, biometric fingerprint identification. The CIMB 1-Minute Auto Financing InstaApproval™ is a shift in approval time for auto financing, which typically takes a day. It reduces customers’ waiting time for the financing decision in the process of purchasing a car. Available…
Fresh off the back of winning the Fintech Company of the Year award earlier in 2018 and celebrating their one year anniversary, we spoke to Kaoru Arai, Managing Director, Rakuten Trade to get a better sense of why they became Fintech Company of the Year and their value proposition. Who is Rakuten Trade? Established in May 2017, Rakuten Trade is Malaysia’s only fully digital equity brokerage, the company was formed as a result of a joint venture between Rakuten and Kenanga Investment Bank. A partnership which signalled increased collaboration between incumbents and fintech companies in Malaysia. Rakuten Trade is a regulated…
36,000 workforce to be trained A combined total of estimated 2 million staff learning hours Aims to equip staff with digital competencies like UI/UX design, data science, and entrepreneurial thinking CIMB Group has pledged RM 75 million over the next three years to the CIMB 3D Academy which stands for digital, data and disruption. According to a statement by the bank the CIMB 3D Academy is aimed at helping CIMB embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) to propel its digital ambitions via a Group-wide people development initiative. The Group aims to equip its 36,000-strong workforce – across all levels and…
South East Asia’s ride hailing giant, Grab and Malaysia’s largest bank Maybank, has announced their partnership to drive the acceptance and usage of GrabPay in Malaysia. This partnership also involves collaborative efforts to drive merchant acquisition. Maybank’s Malaysia customers will soon be able to use the GrabPay mobile wallet to conduct both payments at Maybank’s key merchants, and to top-up their mobile wallet directly from their Maybank2u accounts Grab secured its e-money licence from Bank Negara Malaysia in December last year, and it is reported that they will be launching a beta version of GrabPay in Malaysia in the coming…
Funding Societies, largest peer-to-peer (P2P) financing platform in Malaysia, has announced the launch of FS Bolt: a mobile microfinancing solution in the country that provides fast and collateral-free working capital financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with approval from Securities Commission Malaysia (SC). FS Bolt offers up to RM50,000 in SME financing for companies incorporated in Malaysia, focusing on the micro SME segment. The app is available on both iOS and Android devices. The solution was previously launched in Singapore in 2017 FS Bolt boasts an application process that takes a mere two minutes to complete. Its automated credit…
Malaysian based fintech startup Jirnexu, has closed an US$11 million Series B round. Making their second investment in Jirnexu, Japan-based SBI Group led the latest round, joined by new US-based investor SIG Asia Investments (SIG). With total funding now US$17 million, Jirnexu is among the best funded startups in Malaysia. This follows their previous round in October 2017. Yuen Tuck Siew, CEO of Jirnexu said, “Jirnexu has been growing rapidly since our last funding round, achieving 100 per cent year-on-year growth in 2017. We will do that again in 2018. Already serving over 30 financial service institutions in Malaysia, this round…
Earlier last month, I had the pleasure of joining TM ONE’S BFSI Open Day as a panelist. Joining me was veterans from the TM ONE team and we discussed in depth the state of play for digital transformation in the banking and insurance sector. Digital Is No Longer a Matter of Why but How The immediate consensus that the panelists reached is that we are far beyond the point of why banks and insurance companies should go digital but rather a more relevant question would be how. As it stands, statistics from the Department of Statistics in Malaysia shows that…
United Overseas Bank (UOB) recently announced that they have signed a MOU with WORQ and Common Ground to offer up to 20% off the rental of the co-working spaces. Startups and SME’s who are customers of UOB will be able to access these preferential rates. On top of inking the MOU with WORQ and Common Ground, UOB has also signed the same agreement with 80RR Fintech Hub SG in Singapore and EV Hive in Indonesia. The recently signed deals combined with their existing partnership with Toong in Vietnam totals up to 33 co-working locations across South East Asia. According to…
Malaysia’s fintech scene is becoming increasingly active, it is sometimes difficult to keep track of all the important events, here’s April’s edition of our news roundup featuring the top stories in the Fintech Malaysia scene. If you’re interested to check out March’s news round up you can read more here Fintech Funding Galore In the month of April, there seems to be an abundance of going around. Below are the fintech companies that received funding last month: The increase of attention from international investor signals a positive outlook on this region and sector. 9 Cryptocurrency Exchanges in Malaysia Registered with…
Ripple, the enterprise blockchain solution for global payments, is announcing that five new customers across Europe and Asia will use xVia to power frictionless payments over RippleNet, among the companies announced is Malaysia’s very own fintech company MoneyMatch. xVia is an API solution that just requires one standard integration to enable payment originators to reap the benefits of Ripplenet, which includes faster entry into new markets, lower operational costs, increased speed and end-to-end visibility over payments journey. Though there are contentions in the community about Ripple with it being highly centralised, the community generally agrees that it uses a consensus…
Soft Space announced the closing of a Series B investment with Sumitomo Mitsui Card Company (SMCC) a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG), which is one of the largest financial groups in Japan. Founded in 2012 Soft Space is one of the leading fintech players in Malaysia currently serving over 20 major financial institution across 11 countries. We’ve also previously selected Soft Space as one of the 12 Fintech companies that should be on your watchlist. Eyeing Expansion in Japan and Beyond The investment follows the signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and Business Alliance Agreement that happened in…
Funding Societies, the largest peer-to-peer (P2P) financing platform in Malaysia, has raised RM100 million in Series B funding. Led by Softbank Ventures Korea, the funding round also includes existing investors Sequoia India, Alpha JWC Ventures (Indonesia) and Golden Gate Ventures. Qualgro and LINE Ventures also participated in this over-subscribed round. Additionally, the platform has raised credit lines from banks and financial institutions to further support SMEs. This fundraise, largest by a P2P lending platform in Southeast Asia, will help realize Funding Societies’ vision of financial inclusion for Southeast Asia. Softbank Ventures Korea, an early stage venture capital arm of Softbank…