TNG Digital has partnered with Principal Asset Management to roll out eight new unit trust funds via GOinvest, a digital investment platform on Touch ‘n Go eWallet. Launched in August 2022, GOinvest’s first product offering was the Principal Islamic Money Market Fund. Touch ‘n Go eWallet users can start investing in the unit trust funds from as low as RM10 with no lock-in period or capped amount. Users can set up a regular savings plan via the auto cash-in function to invest a fixed amount every month to average down the risk for stable returns. The eight unit trust funds are…
Author: Fintech News Malaysia
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It can be difficult for financial institutions to rely exclusively on physical branches for comprehensive service for certain markets, particularly those spanning large territories. In such cases, Modular Service Kiosks are the perfect alternative, extending financial and payment services to remote areas for the widest customer base. But these convenient machines’ advantages are not limited to coverage alone. One of the best avenues to improve overall customer experience is to avoid unnecessary frustration by cutting long waiting times. Toppan Gravity’s Modular Service Kiosks is designed for this exact purpose, streamlining commonly time-consuming processes such as onboarding while packing all the…
Malaysia’s Ministry of Finance has appointed Petronas’ e-payment solution Setel as one of the three e-wallet service providers for the eBeliaRahmah programme. The other two are Boost and Touch ‘n Go eWallet. Formerly known as eTunai Belia Rahmah, the programme enables Malaysian youths aged 18 to 20 or full-time students enrolled at institutes of higher learning to claim the RM200 one-off credit through the Setel app. Those eligible will need to download or update to the latest version of the Setel app and complete the account verification through e-KYC. The amount will be credited to the user’s eBeliaRahmah Wallet in the…
The advent of ISO 20022 signifies a monumental shift in the financial world, a transition that promises unprecedented transparency, efficiency, and improved risk management. This financial standard elevates transaction data richness to a new level by offering up to ten times more data elements per transaction. Its global adoption across the banking industry, regulators, and other financial players significantly transforms the once fragmented landscape into a unified field of standardized transactions. ISO 20022 comes with the potential of yielding higher quality data and thereby enhancing reconciliation rates. It could enable real-time and frictionless payments. Moreover, this new standard compels banking…
Touch ‘n Go eWallet has formed a strategic partnership with Bank Rakyat to enable in-app bill payments via JomPAY. JomPAY is the nation’s bill payment service which is run and operated by Payments Network Malaysia (PayNet), the national retail digital payments infrastructure provider in this country. Bank Rakyat is a participant of JomPAY. This partnership enables more than 20 million of Touch ‘n Go eWallet’s users to make bill payments to over 10,000 JomPAY billers. Bank Rakyat said that it will continue to explore partnerships with key e-wallet players in the market to enhance its digital payment capabilities. Dr. Mohammad…
Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim has launched a flagship capital market initiative to help ease the shortage of skilled talent in the field. The Capital Market Development Fund (CMDF) is funding this RM30 million graduate programme. Dubbed as investED, the initiative will help improve the knowledge and employability of 9,000 university graduates, especially for the capital market industry, over three years from 2023. The initiative is driven by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) with collaboration with the Ministry of Finance (MOF), the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), Bursa Malaysia and leading capital market industry players. The inaugural investED Leadership…
Petotum, a digital pet ecosystem integrator, has partnered with Etiqa General Insurance in Malaysia to provide enhanced coverage and streamlined services for pet owners. By leveraging on advanced technologies, data analytics and a customer-centric approach, Etiqa General Insurance and Petotum aims to offer comprehensive pet insurance products. Petotum said that pet owners can look forward to a user-friendly online platform that simplifies policy management and other pet-related services for them and their pets. Additionally, the collaboration will facilitate personalised pet health monitoring to ensure their well-being in the long run. Afifah Basir, CEO of Petotum said, “By integrating our ecosystem…
PETRONAS has announced the selection of 20 startups from across Asia Pacific to participate in the third edition of PETRONAS FutureTech, an intensive technology accelerator programme. The PETRONAS FutureTech 3.0, co-organised with StartupX, a Singapore-based innovation, venture and startup enabler, marks a significant milestone as it welcomes startups and partners from the region for the first time. The 20 startups were selected from a competitive pool of applicants representing Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, India and Australia. Arni Laily Anwarrudin, Head of PETRONAS Ventures said, “At PETRONAS, we are dedicated to support the growth of startup founders and fostering collaboration and innovation…
Al Rajhi Bank Malaysia will be promoting its shariah-compliant Islamic banking and finance offerings to users of TheNoor, a Muslim lifestyle app by Noor Luminous. TheNoor, which is fronted and was co-founded by celebrity and entrepreneur Hjh Noor Neelofa Mohd Noor, will introduce the bank’s—and its digital bank Rize’s—services to its audiences through advertising and promotional campaigns and an exclusive landing page. Officially launched on 17 February 2023, Rize enables its users to conduct all their banking activities on their smartphones without the need to go to a physical branch. As the official digital bank partner of TheNoor, Al Rajhi…
The Malaysian Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has launched the Belanjawanku mobile app and expenditure guide amidst low financial literacy and rising cost of living which has led to to Malaysians having low savings, over-indebtedness and youth bankruptcy. “This is where Belanjawanku comes into the picture as it serves as a guide for individual’s financial planning and debt management, in addition to recommending the amount of savings for future use and in unprecedented events,” said Prof. Datuk Dr Norma. Developed by EPF’s in-house team in August 2022, the app contains interactive features for users to track their expenses online. As of…
The Malaysia Co-Investment Fund (MyCIF) reported that a total of RM638 million have been co-invested in almost 35,000 equity crowd funding (ECF) and peer-to-peer (P2P) financing campaigns in 2022, benefitting some 3,635 Malaysian MSMEs. In its Annual Report 2022 released today, MyCIF found that the total funds raised by ECF and P2P platforms rose by RM300 million to RM1.7 billion in 2022 from 2021. Of the total, MyCIF invested RM282 million compared to RM193 million in 2021. MyCIF said the 26% year-on-year growth in the overall ECF and P2P markets reflected the growing investor and business interest in alternative financing options.…
American multinational company Equinix plans to open a data center in Kuala Lumpur in Q1 2024 following its expansion announcement last year to enter Malaysia with one in Johor. This will mean an additional investment of more than US$100 million to help businesses capitalise on the country’s digital transformation and economic growth. The new facility in Kuala Lumpur, named KL1, will be located in Cyberjaya within Kuala Lumpur. The first phase of KL1 will provide an initial capacity of 450 cabinets and colocation space of 1,300 square meters. When fully built, it will provide a total of 900 cabinets and…
The costs and complexity of legacy banking technology have firmly established the need for financial institutions to modernise their systems. Banks must move away from legacy infrastructure that constrains innovation and prevents them from providing the real-time, personalised banking experiences that customers have come to expect. Banks can unlock greater flexibility, enhanced resilience, and lower operational costs by moving core technology into the cloud. In the past, banks may have adopted a big bang migration approach to move to a new core platform. This would entail a single migration phase in which all product data was extracted, transformed and loaded…
Datuk Shaik Abdul Rasheed bin Abdul Ghaffour has been appointed as the Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) for a five-year term effective 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2028. He will succeed Tan Sri Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus who completes her five-year term on 30 June 2023. Datuk Abdul Rasheed joined the Bank in 1988, rising to the position of Deputy Governor in 2016. Over the span of his career in the bank, Datuk Abdul Rasheed has helmed various senior positions. He is currently a member of the Monetary Policy Committee and Financial Stability Committee, a position he has…
Southeast Asian digital wealth manager StashAway has partnered with property website EdgeProp to empower Malaysians to plan their finances wisely and save for their future homes. As the Official Investment Partner of EdgeProp START, StashAway will offer cash incentives to future home buyers who use its platform to invest towards their home ownership goals. StashAway offers a range of investment solutions from globally-diversified portfolios, to thematic and ESG-focused portfolios that are tailored to meet medium to long-term financial goals. Prospective homeowners can start investing with StashAway and qualify for a RM30 cashback. Upon achieving their investment goal of purchasing a…
In today’s rapidly evolving economic environment, businesses need to be able to adapt quickly to changing market and consumer demands. This is especially true for traditional banks and financial institutions experiencing pressure to offer the same level of agility as their digital competitors. The use of next-gen cloud native platforms is not exclusive to fintechs or neobanks – traditional banks can also harness these super agile platforms to supercharge operational agility and ensure there is no disconnect between front and back-end systems. Across the globe, banks are choosing to migrate and gain an advantage with Mambu’s SaaS cloud native core,…
The Malaysian central bank has kicked off its first BNM Sasana Symposium 2023 (SS2023) today at Sasana Kijang which featured an experiential showcase of the country’s cross-border QR payment linkages with Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand. Participants of the Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) S2023 event was be able to experience making live cross-border QR payments at food vendors from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand. Customers of participating financial institutions can make retail payments by scanning QRIS, NETS, and PromptPay QR codes via mobile banking or e-wallet apps. It supports in-person payments at physical stores and online e-commerce transactions. The same also…
The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) and Bursa Malaysia has rolled out a new mandatory onboarding programme on sustainability for directors of Public Listed Companies (PLCs) on the exchange. The Mandatory Accreditation Programme (MAP) Part II: Leading for Impact (LIP) is an extension to the existing MAP, now known as MAP Part I under the Bursa Malaysia Main Market and ACE Market Listing Requirements (collectively known as the LR). LIP has been curated to focus on the baseline knowledge and key considerations surrounding sustainability, including questions which boards should direct towards management in the effort to ensure a more robust and…
Hong Leong Islamic Bank today announced that Dafinah Ahmed Hilmi has stepped up as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Dafinah is succeeding Jasani Abdullah, who retired at the end of April 2023 after 16 years of service at HLISB, of which 6 years spent at the helm as CEO of the Islamic banking arm of Hong Leong Bank (HLB). She brings with her 23 years of conventional and Islamic banking experience. Dafinah previously held leadership roles across various areas of banking, including her last role as Director of Commercial Banking at HSBC Amanah Malaysia. For the past 19 years,…
Malaysian insurtech company PolicyStreet has raised a total of RM67 million (US$15.3 million) in a Series B fundraising round led by the country’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional. The round was also joined by other local and international investors, including Altara Ventures, Gobi Partners and Spiral Ventures. PolicyStreet said that it intends to use the funds to strengthen its technology and underwriting capabilities. It aims to increase its on-demand underwriting policies to make protection more accessible and better tap into underserved and underinsured audience segments in Malaysia and the region. Founded in 2017 by Yen Ming Lee, Wilson Beh and…