The LaVida Coin is the latest ICO launched by Datuk Seri Hasmiza Othman or better known as Dato’ Vida, beauty mogul and a divisive figure in Malaysia. Perhaps because of Dato’ Vida’s reputation as a successful businesswoman, the LaVida Coin has attracted attention from those who may not otherwise consider investing in cryptocurrency. I’m concerned that certain Malaysians, seeing the success of sudden bitcoin millionaires circa 2017, look to the LaVida Coin as an opportunity to join a cryptocurrency early in anticipation for a future explosion in value. The mogul plans to raise a staggering $1.5 billion from the endeavour.…
Author: Fintech News Malaysia
Author
After the disastrous release of a Touch ‘n Go reload app in March, the company returns with a newly updated, fully-fledged Touch ‘n Go e-wallet. Many in Malaysia opine that Touch ‘n Go was arguably best positioned to release a Malaysian e-wallet with 2 decades of cashless experience, so their serious entry into the ecosystem is seen as long overdue. The TNG Digital main operations hub was just launched in Bangsar South today, officiated by Lembah Pantai’s Member of Parliament (MP), Yang Berhormat Fahmi Fadzil. They complement the new hub with an update to their e-wallet app, with a fresh new interface…
Malaysians who own a Hong Leong debit card can now start treating the freshly-launched WeChat Pay as their extended Hong Leong account, with the announcement of a new partnership between the e-wallet and the bank. Now, users can link their Hong Leong debit cards to their WeChat Pay accounts. This won’t be the first time Hong Leong strikes a local deal with WeChat Pay, with another geared towards China tourists struck back in 2017. Where to Use Your Hong Leong-Linked WeChat Pay As of today, Hong Leong Bank customers can use WeChat Pay for products and services that enabled the…
After a few months of a soft launch WeChat Pay, a QR code-based e-wallet finally makes its official debut in Malaysia into the wallets of at least 20 million active WeChat users. With such a crowded market here in Malaysia, WeChat Pay Malaysia is trying to sweeten the pot by rolling out its Money Packets feature, which is basically a digital Angpow—like what is already done by a few local banks. It is a peer-to-peer payment system that allows users to transfer money between each other, and WeChat will not charge for any Money Packet transactions. To encourage adoption of…
Malaysia’s credit reporting agency CTOS recently launched a solution to enable banks to make real time credit decisions. This solution will allow banks to integrate its existing system into the CTOS Application & Decisioning solution to draw data and insights into the borrower’s credit worthiness. According to CTOS, when implemented this solution can potentially enable instant loan approvals for credit cards and auto loans which is line with the move by the banking industry to move towards quicker turnaround time and instant approvals. At present, CTOS has yet to onboard any customers for this solution, but they are seeking introduce this…
Besides fintech companies, telcos have been making big pushes towards growing and developing their e-wallets for Malaysia to move into the cashless future. Digi was part of that trend, with the launch their e-wallet vcash at the end of last year. And now they’ve forged a partnership with AmBank that allows the wallet access to all of AmBank’s merchant POS terminals. Now, merchants that signed with AmBank will be able to accept Digi’s vcash QR code on top of their usual card and cash services. This seems to provide AmBank with the opportunity to tap into the hot e-wallet race in Malaysia,…
Just recently, BNM has updated its consumer watchlist with risky companies that you shouldn’t interact with. In a list that was once dominated by investment scams, ponzi schemes, and the likes, we now have to contend with “bitcoin companies” disguising a ponzi scheme underneath. Names like Bitclub Network, BitKingdom, CoinEnterprise, CryptoDaily Investment Packages, and many others were added in the second half of 2017, without coincidence, around the time when the mainstream population began noticing bitcoin due to its rising value. One of the recent additions to the list is the Kazuki Coin, attempting to market itself as an altcoin on…
The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has ordered LendingStar to cease all activities with immediate effect, in a directive issued on the 23rd of July 2018. SC’s decision follows an inquiry which revealed that LendingStar is not registered to run in a recognised market. LendingStar is also said to be running auto-invest facilities without license or registration from the SC, which breaks the securities law. We’ve reached out to the regulator for more information and will update this space with their response. The SC reminds the public that there are 7 legally registered equity crowdfunding platforms, and 6 peer-to-peer platform operators. The regulator continues…
Funding Societies, a Peer-toPeer (P2P) financing platform in Malaysia, has announced a partnership with Curlec, a homegrown FinTech company specialising in direct debit payments. Funding Societies will be the first partner to adopt Curlec’s online Direct Debit system. With an integrated system, the repayment process for Funding Societies’ SME clients will be automated, increasing customer efficiency and lowering processing time. Convenience for SMEs With the partnership, Funding Societies’ SME clients will have a choice to get rid of their cheques and paperwork to process their repayments. Most repayment methods require clunky software and sizeable teams to manage the operational process.…
TM ONE, the business solutions arm of Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) has announced their commitment in collaborating with the fintech sector in a closed-door session they hosted in collaboration with MDEC held recently at DOJO KL. This announcement follows the hints that was made during their BFSI open day that TM ONE is potentially looking at partnerships with fintech companies. Who They Are Looking For During the session, Carol Wang, General Manager, Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, TM ONE stated that they have identified 10 key fintech used cases under the Banking and Insurance vertical that TM ONE is keen…
I’ll admit, I wasn’t a believer of the Tabung Harapan crowdfunding campaign when it initially went up. I didn’t think a crowdfunding scheme with no return of investment could ever amass enough donations to justify its existing. RM153,445,814.86 in donations later, consider me humbled. In a Malaysia Boleh spirit, the people donated in droves to “save Malaysia” from debt. This marks an interesting paradigm shift in crowdfunding in Malaysia. Crowdfunding is not exactly a new thing in Malaysia, with many a tech startup particlarly fintech, getting to where they are today thanks to equity crowdfunding. However, some of the more recent…
I don’t think there are any concrete lines we can draw about how many e-wallets in Malaysia is more than neccesary, but I would argue that over 40 is far too many for one ecosystem. And that’s just the ones that we found. There is much ado about e-wallets in Malaysia recently. Just recently ride-hailing giant Grab launched GrabPay in Malaysia. WeChat Pay’s entry into Malaysia is notable as the first foreign currency that the wallet is opening its doors to. Based on recent interviews, Malaysia will probably remain one of the few countries for WeChat Pay. Razer Pay gained…
Last year, Hong Leong Bank Berhad launched its inaugural HLB LaunchPad with a vision of helping Malaysian fintech startups rethink the whole industry—similar to how ride-hailing reimagined the public transportation industry. To that end, Hong Leong is now opening up registrations for this year’s HLB LaunchPad 2018: ACTIVATE, and they’re looking for startups aspiring to make a break in the financial services industry. While fintech companies will remain a bedrock of the bank’s vision for their programme, the launchpad is also opening its doors for youth-based companies, Series A Companies, as well as those working on CSR outreach later in the…
Both the political and the cryptocurrency spheres alike are talking about the Harapan Coin, a donation token endorsed by Khalid Abdul Samad—our current Federal Territories Minister. It was created as a fundraising coin for the Pakatan Harapan coalition to combat Barisan Nasional in the 14th General Elections. According to Malay Mail, Khalid has expressed an interest in bringing up the Harapan Coin, originally a personal project, in an upcoming PH Presidential Council’s next meeting. At the time of writing, the Pakatan Harapan government has not expressed any opinions or endorsement of the Harapan Coin, apart from Khalid Samad who intended…
The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has announced that it welcomes new applications for Equity Crowdfunding (ECF) and P2P lending. This follows their previous call for more industry participation during their Annual Report press conference earlier this year. This announcement signals Securities Commission Malaysia’s continued interest to use alternative investment platforms like Equity Crowdfunding (ECF) and P2P lending to democratise access to investments. To date there are 6 approved operators under the Equity Crowdfunding (ECF) category and similarly 6 approved operators under the P2P lending category. Applicants have by 7 September 2018 to submit their documentation for registration. Update: We’ve been informed…
Sunway has just set up a venture capital fund named Sun SEA Capital LP. It’s proposing to spend up to US$50 million on digital startups in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Hong Kong. Sunway Berhad, through its subsidiary Sunway City Sdn Bhd signed what is called an Initial Exempted Limited Partner Agreement (LPA). An LPA is a limited partnership agreement that is used to form a private equity fund, but structured as a limited partnership. This partnership is made up of the resources and business smarts of the Sunway Group, combined with the experience of established venture capitalists Koichi…
We have some ways to go before catching up to the top fintech nations, but the scene in Malaysia is growing nicely. At the time of writing, we already have, as far as we can find, 5 fintech companies that have broken the million-dollar funding mark. And we found some interesting similarities between them too, so it might be valuable for us to discuss some unifying themes between them, and what this implies about the local market. But first, here’s who they actually are, and what they do: The Top Funded Fintech Companies In Malaysia Disclaimer: This list is compiled…
Insurtech, is one of the latest buzzwords that has entered into the fintech lexicon. For those unfamiliar with the field, one might reasonably question whether it genuinely adds value to society or it’s just another buzzword whose sole purpose is to help startups raise funds and to help highly paid consultants to sound fancy during their conference presentations. While insurtech in Malaysia is still nascent, there is much value it can add to the Malaysian society. Here are a few ways: Making Information More Accessible Insurtech can make insurance a lot more accessible by enabling customers, for instance, to educate…
I’ll admit, I was a tad disappointed when I first learned that robo advisors aren’t some form of Jarvis or a virtual Alfred. That being said, actual robo advisors are still quite an interesting type of technology—no really, I’m serious here. Robo advisors are a form of artificial intelligence, but their value proposition lies in their ability to automatically pick out stock investments based on the kind of investment portfolio you’d like to have. Cutting Out The Middleman This is meant to serve as an alternative, or even a supplement to human-run investment portfolios. Through these robo advisors, consumers can…
OCBC Bank and Fundaztic, P2P lending platform licensed by the Securities Commission have entered into a collaborative agreement to enhance access to financing for micro, small and new businesses which forms the largest base of SMEs in the country currently facing difficulty to obtain funding for business growth. The effort will see OCBC Bank referring to Fundaztic, viable SMEs needing business financing but does not fulfil the current risk appetite of the bank such as having insufficient track records as required. This follows a similar move by UOB Bank in partnering with Funding Societies earlier this month According to OCBC…