Author: Fintech News Malaysia

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has placed cryptocurrency exchange Huobi Global on its investor alert list for operating a digital asset exchange (DAX) in the country without being registered. Huobi Global [https://t.co/la9Y3ntGuq] has been added to the SC’s Investor Alert List for operating a digital asset exchange (DAX) in Malaysia without being registered with the SC. pic.twitter.com/z3IGgnCa0t — SC Malaysia (@SecComMY) August 22, 2022 In November 2020, Huobi announced in a vaguely worded statement that it had secured a license from the “Malaysian authorities” to provide a “safe and regulated way to trade cryptocurrencies” in the country. The regulator stepped…

Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) jointly announced the addition of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) track to the Global Fast Track 2022, giving local and global firms valuable opportunities to partner with the central banking institution to boost the growth and adoption of fintech in Asia and beyond. The Global Fast Track is organised by InvestHK and co-organised by Finnovasia. It is a one-stop programme with a business matching portal, pitching competition, and mentoring sessions which connect global fintech companies with a diverse range of Asian Corporate, Investor and Service Champions to explore…

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) will be collaborating with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) to strengthen collaboration in the regulation and supervision of anti-money laundering, countering financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) and targeted financial sanctions (TFS). Both entities signed a Terms of Collaboration which set out the respective regulatory and supervisory responsibilities of BNM and SSM in the regulation and supervision of company secretaries and trust companies. It will also provide for a more structured approach to assess money laundering and terrorism financing (ML/TF) risks in these two sectors, as well as to promote institutional capacity building in these areas. BNM’s…

Standard Chartered Malaysia announced the appointment of Mak Joon Nien as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), with effect from 18 August 2022. Mak is the bank’s first Malaysian CEO. He will take over the reins from Abrar A. Anwar, who has been CEO of Malaysia since 2017, and report to Patrick Lee, Cluster CEO, Singapore and ASEAN markets. Abrar will remain as Board Member of Standard Chartered Malaysia until the end of the year to ensure a smooth and orderly transition. He will also be supporting several regional initiatives within the bank. Mak commenced his 25-year career as…

CIMB Group today introduced the early release of CIMB OCTO App, its next generation mobile banking app designed to deliver new features and personalisation for over 8 million customers nationwide. CIMB OCTO will be rolled out in phases and enhanced with each successive release, allowing customers to experience it and provide their feedback before the app’s full release. New features of the app includes data driven personalisation based on the users activities. The app, for example will compile a list of potentially tax deductible debit and credit card transactions and send it to the user during tax filling season. The…

Kiplepay, an e-wallet service provider and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Green Packet, had informed its Kiple Visa Prepaid Card users via email of a potential data breach through a third-party payment gateway provider on 15th August 2022. The customer communication was released following Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) notification to the company which highlighted payment gateway provider iPay88’s potential data breach incident. BNM had requested the company to notify affected cardholders of additional protective measures that are being taken to protect them against risks of fraudulent or unauthorised transactions that may arise from this incident. The data breach, which was highlighted as a…

Maybank announced that it has appointed Dr Siew Chan Cheong as its Group Chief Strategy Officer, effective 15 August 2022. Dr Siew will assist and report to the Group President and CEO of Maybank, and work closely with the Board and the leadership team. He will also be responsible for broadening and deepening the digitalisation agenda and for driving the industrialisation and adoption of analytics across the group. He takes over the role from Michael Foong who concurrently held the position as Group Chief Strategy Officer in addition to CEO of International. Michael will remain as the CEO of International.…

Touch ‘n Go Group has launched GOinvest, its proprietary digital investment platform, which can be accessed through Touch ‘n Go eWallet. GOinvest’s first product offering is the Principal Islamic Money Market Fund which is developed and managed by Principal Asset Management Berhad. Touch ‘n Go eWallet users, aged 18 years and above, can start investing as little as RM10 in the Shariah-compliant fund. There is no lock-in period or cap on the investment balance as compared to other conventional deposit products. Users may also choose to set their personal financial goals as this would help them to focus on and…

KPMG in Malaysia and Fintech Association of Malaysia (FAOM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the aim to catalyse the growth of Malaysia’s fintech sector and the digital players in the space. Through this collaboration, KPMG and FAOM will support each parties’ programmes and initiatives that aim to bring together players in the fintech ecosystem. This will include connecting subject matter experts, organising corporate innovation activities and industry roundtable sessions, and supporting programs related to the National Technology & Innovation Sandbox which is spearheaded by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) and also MaGIC’s Global Accelerator Program…

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd has chosen Kestrl, a UK based Islamic Fintech that offers personal finance solutions to Muslims, to develop and implement personal financial management (PFM) features for its newly launched digital bank ‘Be U’. Through this partnership, Bank Islam hopes to cement its status as Malaysia’s leading Islamic Bank and create an app that provides ‘next-level’ banking for over 350,000 users that it expects to acquire over the next 12 months. Officially launched in July, Be U is understood to be the country’s first digital bank that is built natively on the cloud. Founded in 2019 by two…

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) said in a statement that forensic investigations are still ongoing with regard to the payment gateway provider iPay88’s potential data breach incident. The breach originated from and is confined to iPay88’s payment card systems and does not involve vulnerabilities in the banks’ systems. According to BNM, financial institutions in Malaysia also observe strong authentication methods for online card transactions, including prompting cardholders for additional confirmation of certain transactions considered to be more risky. This reduces the risk of fraudulent transactions occurring. For non-authenticated transactions, particularly purchases from overseas merchants, BNM said that customers will not be liable…

Malaysia’s iPay88 revealed in a statement that it had experienced a cybersecurity incident where card data may have been potentially compromised. iPay88 said that upon discovery of the issue, it had immediately initiated an investigation on 31 May 2022 and brought in cybersecurity experts to contain the issue. The company claimed that the containment process was successfully completed and that no further suspicious activity has been detected since 20 July 2022. According to iPay88, it has implemented various new measures and controls to strengthen the system’s security against any further incidents. “The investigation is currently ongoing and we are working…

Google Cloud announced that it plans to expand to Malaysia to meet growing demand for cloud services in Asia Pacific. Other regions that Google Cloud is eyeing includes Thailand, New Zealand, Berlin, Dammam, Doha, Mexico, Tel Aviv, and Turin. When they launch, these new regions will join its 34 cloud regions currently in operation around the world — 11 of which are located in Asia Pacific. According to Google Cloud, enterprises across industries, startups, and public sector organisations across Asia Pacific will benefit from key controls that enable them to maintain low latency and the highest security, data residency, and…

Touch ‘n Go Group and Shell Malaysia has launched a new cashless experience that enables customers to pay for fuels using Touch ‘n Go RFID at 88 Shell stations nationwide. According to Touch ‘n Go, the number of Shell stations enabled with this new cashless fueling experience is expected to increase twofold by the end of the year. In order to use this service, customers will need a Touch ‘n Go RFID tag linked to their Touch ‘n Go eWallet account. This is a one-time registration and activation through Touch ‘n Go eWallet. Upon successful activation, customers simply need to…

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) platform Atome announced the appointment of Gary Yeoh as its General Manager. With over 20 years’ experience in retail and financial and payment sectors, Gary will be instrumental in spearheading Atome’s growth in Malaysia. Prior to joining Atome, Gary was announced as the Country Manager for Fave Malaysia in February 2022, in that role he oversaw its business growth and operations. He was part of the founding team at Boost, Axiata Digital’s fintech arm, where the e-wallet grew to a base of over 9 million users and 350 thousand merchants during his 5 years tenure.…

Apple announced that its customers in Malaysia can now use Apple Pay with their iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, and Mac. Merchants such as KFC, Maxis, Machines, McDonald’s, Mydin, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, U Mobile, Uniqlo, Village Grocer, and Watsons — and apps and websites including Shopee, Sephora, Atome, and Adidas — now offer customers the ability to pay with Apple Pay. Every Apple Pay purchase is authenticated with Face ID, Touch ID, or a device passcode, as well as a one-time unique dynamic security code. Credit and debit card numbers are not stored on device or on Apple servers; instead, a…

BigPay, a Capital A venture company, announced that it has added 38 new countries to its international remittance services. This includes England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales in the United Kingdom, and 34 countries in Europe, including France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Spain. To make an international bank transfer to these countries, senders will need to enter the amount to remit, select the country, and add in the recipient’s bank details. BigPay is currently offering free international transfers for a limited time only to Europe and the United Kingdom. The app first launched its international remittance services in September 2019…

In Asia, bigtechs and new digital banking challengers are rapidly gaining ground, forcing incumbent banks to rethink their business strategy and become a part of the super-app ecosystem, a new report by Finextra, in association with Infosys Finacle and OneSpan, says. The paper, titled The Future of Digital Banking in Asia 2022, explores Asia’s booming digital banking ecosystem and highlights emerging trends. Asia has emerged as the leader in banking innovation these past couple of years, a trend driven by the region’s large population of unbanked, demand for inclusive and accessible banking services, and rising Internet penetration. In Asia Pacific…

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has published a consultation paper and is seeking the public’s feedback on a proposed regulatory framework relating to the management of technology risks by capital market entities. The proposed regulatory framework for technology risk management is part of the SC’s commitment to enhance governance and oversight of technology risks in capital market entities while further strengthening their technological resilience. It is also in line with the SC’s development and regulatory aspirations outlined in the Capital Market Masterplan 3. The consultation paper sets out the key highlights of the proposed regulatory framework and seeks feedback on…

Bank Islam has selected Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com company, as its preferred cloud provider to power its Be U digital bank. The bank is building Be U through its Centre of Digital Experience (CDX), an independent division which is developing new banking services on AWS to transform customer experiences. According to AWS, Bank Islam will now be able to develop new digital financial services including an app, a debit card, and a financing facility that complies with Shariah financial requirements, in just a few weeks. The cloud provider added that CDX also gains the agility to innovate rapidly…