Financial services firms across the Asia Pacific are facing an ever-increasing array of data and technology challenges stemming from both the growth in the volume of customer and business data being generated and the proliferation of data siloes across different applications and platforms. This has led to an urgent need for financial organisations to access, manage, and leverage their data effectively to improve operational efficiency, enhance decision-making, and, ultimately, better serve their customers. In a recent survey by InterSystems, a provider of data management solutions involving 176 leaders in the APAC region, several vital data and technology challenges were identified…
Author: Fintech News Malaysia
Author
The Malaysian Prime Minister Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that Bursa Malaysia and the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) will launch a Centralised Sustainability Reporting platform next month, according to a report by Bernama. The platform will enable companies, both public-listed companies as well as non-listed small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to calculate the impact of their carbon emissions. It will also aid these companies in disclosing the environmental, social and governance (ESG) data in line with the established global standards. “This platform has the potential to become a key enabler to Malaysia’s pivot to green and support our…
Maybank announced that it has appointed Alan Lau Chee Kheong as Group Chief Operations Officer (GCOO) effective 1 April 2023. Alan is currently the Group Chief Compliance Officer. Alan will be reporting to Dato’ Khairussaleh Ramli, the Group President and Chief Executive Officer. In his new role, Alan will be expected to oversee end-to-end industrialisation of transactional operation functions such as trade, credit and treasury, with focus in customer experience and interaction. Maybank said in a statement that Alan will lead the Group Operations to the next level of efficiency and excellence while being a strategic partner to the business.…
Capital A announced that its President for Commercial Colin Currie will be holding dual roles as he has also been appointed as the CEO of airasia Digital. Additionally, Head of Investments John Cheing was appointed as the CFO for airasia Digital and airasia Super App effective 1 March. Both appointments are in line with Capital A’s plans to scale up its digital business portfolio which includes travel and lifestyle platform airasia Super App as well as fintech portfolio BigPay. The airasia Super App is a one-stop travel, e-commerce and fintech platform that offers its 51 million users over 15 lines…
Malaysian equity crowdfunding (ECF) platform MyStartr has raised RM 4.7 million through a Fundnel campaign led by 431 investors to support its entry into the secondary market this year. MyStartr has also received an additional RM931,250 from the Malaysia Co-Investment Fund (MyCIF), a government initiative to support its business growth plans for 2023. According to a statement by MyStartr, the company is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) by 2027 as part of its five year growth plans. MyStartr added that it is set to support more entrepreneurs and startups in achieving unicorn status and eventually gaining access to…
Touch ‘n Go eWallet has successfully implemented all five mandatory safety and security measures imposed by the Bank Negara Malaysia to combat scams, four months before the June 2023 deadline. The first of the five key measures are the migration from using a SMS one-time password (OTP) to the face verification method when users login, change their PIN, perform transactions or make payments, and perform reloads. Transactions of a certain threshold or any abnormal activity and suspicious behaviour observed on a user’s account will be limited or blocked. An email alert will be sent to the users should their transactions…
Amazon Web Services (AWS) plans to launch an AWS infrastructure Region in Malaysia and invest US$6 billion (approximately RM 25.5 billion) by 2037 as part of its commitment to the region. The new AWS Region will give developers, startups, entrepreneurs, and enterprises, as well as government, education, and nonprofit organisations, greater choice for running their applications and serving end users from data centers located in Malaysia. AWS offers a broad range of services including analytics, compute, database, Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, mobile services, storage, and other cloud technologies The new AWS Region will consist of three Availability Zones…
The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Securities and Exchange Regulator of Cambodia (SERC) for greater regulatory, enforcement, and supervisory cooperation. The regulators said in a joint statement that the MOU was signed due to the “growing globalisation and cross-border activities of regulated entities/persons in both countries”. The MOU covers cross-border enforcement assistance, regulation, and supervision of capital market intermediaries, and the facilitation of licensing information. It also addresses capacity building and human capital development, as well as the exchange of regulatory expertise and technical knowledge to facilitate and encourage the development of…
Malaysian insurtech company PolicyStreet announced that it has secured the Australian Financial Services License from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). The license allows PolicyStreet to offer financial product advice and services for general insurance products to Australian retail and wholesale clients. PolicyStreet said in a statement that the new license marks a “significant milestone in the company’s regional expansion plans”. With its expertise in personalised and technology-driven insurance solutions, PolicyStreet helps businesses customise and embed insurance as part of their offerings. “PolicyStreet’s digital-first platform and data-driven approach to underwriting have won the trust of businesses and consumers in…
FWD Group inks deal to snap up a majority stake in Gibraltar BSN Life in a bid to enter the Malaysian life insurance market. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2023. Through this deal, FWD Group and other investors will together hold a 70% stake in Gibraltar BSN, which was sold by The Prudential Insurance Company of America. Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN) will continue to hold the remaining 30% stake ownership in Gibraltar BSN. Once the deal has been finalised FWD said that it will partner with BSN to further develop and grow Gibraltar BSN.…
Alliance Bank Malaysia has announced its new strategic plan Acceler8 that will be the blueprint for the bank’s growth for the next four years until 2027. The Acceler8 plan includes the expansion efforts into new market segments and business verticals such as the education, renewable energy and healthcare sectors to provide its customers with a more comprehensive suite of offerings . Alliance Bank is also looking to step up its sustainability efforts as well as double down on the fast-growing Islamic finance segment. Additionally, Alliance Bank is also eyeing the emerging affluent customer segment and is looking to expand its…
Payments platform Fave announced that its Founder and Chief Executive Officer Joel Neoh will leave his role by early March 2023. Co-founder Yeoh Chen Chow will continue to lead the business together with Avantika Jain, General Manager in Singapore, Aik Kuang Heng, Fave’s newly appointed General Manager in Malaysia, alongside local leadership teams in Indonesia and India. News of Joel’s exit comes less than a year since Fave’s acquisition by India’s Pine Labs in a deal valued at US$ 45 million (RM 185 million) was announced. The serial entrepreneur was the Co-founder of digital media platform Says.com in 2009. The…
RHB Banking Group’s recently concluded ‘Get Your Hack On’: ASEAN Edition 2023 Hackathon drew more than 400 technology-savvy innovators from five countries across the ASEAN region. The third third instalment of this hackathon brought together tech talents from universities, corporates and startups to work on specific banking-related problem statements and generate innovative solutions. The preliminary stage of the hackathon comprised of 89 teams, culminating in the Grand Finals that saw 15 finalists compete for cash prizes and a chance to have their solutions integrated into RHB’s digital offerings. As part of its digital strategy, RHB targets to achieve more than…
Valued at over US$ 1 Trillion the payments in South East Asia is a hotbed for innovation. What are some biggest trends shaping payments in the region and where is the industry headed? Special thanks to the following thought leaders for sharing their views: Alain Yee, Head of ShopeePay Malaysia Praful Morar, Global Expansion Officer, Nuvei Hiroko Michishita, Managing Director, JCB International Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. Andrew McCormack, Centre, Head BIS Innovation Hub Singapore Centre
Singapore-based Inypay announced that it will be launching its neobank, which has been in development for over 6 months, in Q2 2023. The key focus of Inypay is sustainable fintech. In its mission to improve the lives of the underserved communities in Southeast Asia, they aim to achieve quality education through education credit, zero hunger through food credit, and better health and well being through medical credit. Inypay will be offering micro-lending, remittances, domestic payments, e-wallets, personalised and communal savings as well as micro-insurance in Southeast Asia. The company’s 35-people team in Singapore and India is building a digital bank…
Malaysian insurtech startup Fi Life announced today the launch of its first self-underwritten life insurance product which claims to offer the cheapest life insurance for women, available online. Fi Life said that any woman below the age of 55 will have access to the lowest life insurance premium in Malaysia or get the difference refunded. The insurtech added that it is also offering the highest sum assured of RM1 million for among all life insurance policies offered online. In addition to that, it is also the cheapest life insurance for men in their prime working ages and covers foreign professionals…
Southeast Asian superapp Grab has appointed Adelene Foo as Managing Director of Grab Malaysia to succeed Sean Goh, who assumes the position of Regional Head of Deliveries and Mobility. In her role, Adelene will oversee the business strategy and operations of Grab’s businesses in Malaysia. With her experience in setting up the local team, Adelene will help to continue to grow the mobility, deliveries, on-demand groceries as well as accelerate the growth of the GrabFin. A ten-year veteran at Grab, she was previously the Country Head in Malaysia between 2012-2014 before moving on to regional roles. She was most recently…
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are innovative, agile and drive competition. However, they’re often shuffled to the back of the line when it comes to accessing credit. Lending to SMEs can be risky and time-consuming. Traditional financial institutions often require paperwork-heavy application processes and may find it difficult to execute credit risk decisioning without human intervention. Forty-four percent of SMEs need funding immediately to meet operating expenses, and 56% look to credit to grow their business. But when accessing credit quickly can mean the difference between a business flourishing or floundering, what are the options? Increasingly, disruptive lenders, including fintechs…
Pan-Asian venture capital (VC) firm Gobi Partners announced that it has onboarded two fintech firms to its Gobi Superseed II Fund (Gobi SSII Fund). Earned Wage Access (EWA) service provider Paywatch and equity crowdfunding platform (ECF) pitchIN were among the four promising Malaysian startups that were chosen. The other two startups were Islamic-themed streaming service Durioo+ as well as business-to-business e-commerce marketplace Lapasar. The US$10 million Gobi SSII Fund targets early-stage Malaysian startups and has invested in four other local companies since its launch in late 2020. The other local startups are Sunway Innovation Labs, TechNode, Speedhome and PolicyStreet. Paywatch…
Southeast Asian neobank BigPay has embarked on the first phase of its app enhancements with new design elements and experience powered by Snowdrop Solutions, a London-based Google Maps and Cloud Premier partner. Each BigPay transaction will display clear merchant names, logos, merchant contact information and be sorted under a categorisation system for different types of expenditure. This allows BigPay users to better understand information about their card transactions and spending habits at a glance. Bigpay said that it was able to deploy the new transaction enrichment services in just a few weeks through the use of Snowdrop’s Merchant Reconciliation System…