The rise of digital banking and accelerated digital transformation have brought about new security concerns. Criminals are turning their attention to gullible online users, creating ever-so sophisticated scamming schemes to defraud them. At the enterprise level, threat actors are opportunistically using the shifting work environment to adopt tactics to infiltrate organisations. Statistics from the Commercial Crime Investigation Department at the Royal Malaysia Police show that cybercrime is skyrocketing as consumers shift to online channels. Between 2017 and June 20, 2021, Malaysians suffered losses amounting to about RM2.23 billion (US$533 million) from cybercrime frauds. Of the 67,552 cybercrime cases reported during…
Author: Fintech News Malaysia
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The Fintech Association of Malaysia (FAOM) has elected Wilson Beh as the new president of FAOM for its 2022/2023 term at its recent fifth Annual Grand Meeting (AGM). Wilson is the Co-founder of Malaysian based insurtech firm PolicyStreet and was the outgoing Vice President of FAOM for the 2021/22 term. He has been actively involved in growing the association as a founding member since 2016. Wilson said, “It’s an honour to receive the torch from our outgoing president, Karen Puah, who has grown the association to greater heights with the past committee. As one of the early fintech adopters,…
Bursa Malaysia and CIMB Group has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to accelerate the adoption of environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices among Malaysian Public Listed Companies (PLCs) through the #financing4ESG initiative. Through this MoU, CIMB will become the first home-grown bank to collaborate with Bursa on #financing4ESG. CIMB will collaborate with Bursa Malaysia to offer sustainable finance offerings for Malaysian PLCs in alignment with the ratings model of the FTSE4Good Bursa Malaysia (F4GBM) index. This aims to help Malaysian PLCs improve their sustainability performance and ratings for inclusion into the index. At the same time, it supports…
RHB Banking Group has established an affiliate partnership with ManagePay Services (MPay) to provide contactless payments for businesses This partnership leverages on Application Programming Interface (API) to enable the bank’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and corporate customers to accept various bank and e-wallet transactions via the RHB DuitNow QR, which is available through MPay’s EFTPOS and Smart Android Terminal. Merchants are also able to seamlessly capture all DuitNow QR transactions and reconcile these within their payment system, including those made via the terminal payment systems. RHB said that it is the first Malaysian bank to integrate DuitNow QR…
The Malaysian fintech industry boasts a wide and diverse ecosystem comprising more than 230 companies. However, despite having one of Southeast Asia’s largest fintech ecosystems by the number of active fintech companies, funding activity has remained rather timid, with just US$117 million raised by domestic fintech companies in the first nine months of 2021. That’s far behind Singapore (US$1.6 billion), Indonesia (US$904 million), or even Vietnam (US$375 million), according to a report by UOB, PwC, and the Singapore Fintech Association. Nevertheless, a handful of ventures have managed to secure significant rounds of funding from prominent investors to fuel their growth…
The latest research by the International Data Corporation (IDC) and Thought Machine, a cloud native core banking technology firm, revealed that 40% of banks in the Asia Pacific will make significant changes to their current core banking systems in the next three years. The “A Clear Path Ahead: Migrating to Digital Core” report found that the transformation of core systems is now becoming a priority with 75% of banks saying that they have delayed full-blown replacements. Banks are facing a reality check when it comes to legacy core banking systems which present several challenges. Among them is the inability to…
Malaysian fintech startup MoneyMatch announced that it is one of the participants of the consortium led by KAF Investment Bank which was recently selected to receive an Islamic digital banking license in Malaysia. The consortium also comprises Jirnexu, best known for their comparison site RinggitPlus, as well as Carsome, a digital marketplace for used cars which emerged as Malaysia’s first unicorn. Following the successful digital banking license application as part of the KAF-led consortium, MoneyMatch will now be launching its Series B fundraising round. It is already in talks with several local and regional institutional investors, investment banks and venture…
InsureTech Connect Asia (ITC Asia) will be hosting the first 3-day in-person event since the pandemic from 7 – 9 June 2022 at Suntec Convention & Exhibition Centre, Singapore. The insurtech event has offered unparalleled access to the largest and most comprehensive gathering of tech entrepreneurs, investors, and insurance industry executives from across the globe. Exploring the growth potential of the Asia Pacific region, the conference will gather senior industry executives, investors, and startups to share and showcase how they have adapted and accelerated in the face of the pandemic. Attendees will have access to an enriching conference that will…
The consortium comprising AEON Credit alongside its parent company AEON Financial Service and neobank MoneyLion has secured an Islamic digital banking license in Malaysia. Initially, AEON Credit and AEON Financial Service shall each hold 45% equity interest in the proposed digital bank, with the remaining 10% equity to be held by MoneyLion. According to a report by The Edge Markets, the Islamic digital bank is set to launch its operations in two years and this is subject to its operational readiness following a review by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM). The proposed digital bank would bring to the table the combined…
Boost, the fintech arm of Axiata Group and RHB Banking Group has secured the highly anticipated digital bank license issued by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM). In June last year, the partnership between Boost and RHB to form a digital bank consortium was announced, with Boost owning a majority stake of 60%, and RHB owning the remaining 40%. In a joint statement, Boost and RHB said that the aim will be to create greater access for financial inclusion digitally amongst the underserved and unserved segments. Both parties will combine their deep expertise in specific areas to deliver on the key criteria…
Grab Holdings Limited and Singtel announced today that GXS Bank Pte. Ltd., their digital bank joint venture, and a consortium of Malaysian investors including Kuok Brothers Sdn. Bhd (the “Malaysia digital bank consortium”) have been selected to receive a full digital banking licence in Malaysia, subject to meeting all of Bank Negara Malaysia’s regulatory conditions. Subject to regulatory approvals, the digital bank joint venture will hold a 55.45% stake in the proposed Malaysia digital bank, which will be led by Ms Pei Si Lai as its CEO designate. As CEO designate of the Malaysian digital bank, Ms Lai brings extensive…
The Joint Committee on Climate Change (JC3) has emphasized the need for the financial sector to strengthen its response to climate change. Established in 2019, JC3 is chaired by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Securities Commission Malaysia with other members including senior representatives from Bursa Malaysia and various industry players. During its seventh meeting, JC3 discussed the progress of action plans and priorities for 2022 as well as the effects of recent global developments on transition efforts and policy responses of countries. Some of the key updates on the work of sub-committees established under JC3 include: Contribution to BNM’s exposure…
TNG Digital, owner and operator of Touch ‘n Go eWallet, announced the launch of SafeTrip, its second insurance product collaboration with AIA Malaysia. SafeTrip is a travel insurance plan for both domestic and international travel which covers travel inconvenience, medical expenses, personal accidents, and comes with extra COVID-19 protection. It also gives international travellers an option to top-up their coverage for medical expenses related to COVID-19 to up to RM250,000 in total, enabling them to satisfy travel requirements of their destination country. SafeTrip costs RM3 per day for domestic trips and RM10 per day for short trips in most Asian countries.…
Raiz Malaysia, a joint venture company between Raiz Invest Australia and Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), enables its customers to link their bank cards via the micro-investment app through its partnership with Visa. Following its launch in July 2020, Raiz was initially only available for Maybank account holders. With Raiz’s auto-round-ups feature, cardholders can now save their spare change from everyday purchases and boost their savings in the background of life while managing their finances better. Raiz added that it is continuing to expand the app’s functionality, mainly driven by customer feedback. The company began its operation in Malaysia in the…
Kenanga Digital Investing (KDI) announced that it has crossed RM100 million in asset under management (AUM) two months since its launch in mid-February this year. Developed to make investing simpler and accessible for Malaysians, the AI – driven digital investment management platform has received 6,500 successful signups. Licensed by the Securities Commission Malaysia, the newly launched robo-advisor offers two products – KDI Save and KDI Invest. KDI Save allows users to earn daily returns on their savings with no lock-in period and zero management fees while KDI Invest allows customers to grow their wealth with access to global investment opportunities…
Payd, a Malaysian earned wage access solution provider, announced that it has raised US$1.7 million (RM7.5 million) in a seed funding round led by IFS Capital. The round also received participation from 1982 Ventures and The Hive Southeast Asia, a recipient of the Dana Penjana Nasional programme, as well as a few angel investors. Payd said that it will use the new funds to expand its Southeast Asian operations. This includes brand building, team expansion to accelerate product development, as well as the launch of more products and services in the coming months. Founded in 2020, Payd is an earned…
Al Rajhi Bank Malaysia (ARBM) announced that it has selected Moneythor, a Singaporean digital banking solution provider, to integrate personal financial management (PFM) features into its upcoming digital bank in Malaysia. The bank said that it will deploy Moneythor’s PFM features to deliver rich in-app functionality and power highly personalised experiences for their customers. The Moneythor solution is powered by real-time data, coupled with machine learning and behavioural science techniques to provide data-driven personalisation capabilities for digital financial management. The PFM solution will complement ARBM’s plans for a full spectrum of Shariah-compliant products as part of its digital bank offering…
Credit reporting agency CTOS Digital announced in a Bursa filing last Friday that its Group CEO Dennis Martin will be retiring from his position and will serve as Vice Chairman to the board effective 1st May 2022. Dennis joined CTOS in 2017 and has served as the Group CEO for 5 years. During his tenure, he successfully oversaw the company’s listing process which saw the share prices exceeding all analyst’s expectations during its debut. CTOS has named Eric Hamburger as Dennis’ successor and will be taking on the role of Group CEO effective 1st May 2022. Earlier in March this…
Touch ‘n Go (TNG) Group today announced the launch of its upgraded card that allows users to reload from their app without any surcharges. The upgraded card also has a new minimalistic look that comes with higher encryption levels to promote better security. In addition to this, each card is also fully registered as it is attached to a Touch ‘n Go eWallet account when mobile reloads are performed. The upgraded card is available for purchase at RM10, the same price as the older version Touch ‘n Go cards and is available for purchase via the app as well as…
UOB Malaysia announced that it will appoint Ng Wei Wei as its first female Chief Executive Officer (CEO) effective 1 May 2022 onwards. She will succeed Wong Kim Choong, who will relinquish the position after leading the bank since 2012. Wong will take on a new role as senior adviser and will oversee the integration of the bank’s and Citi’s retail banking business, until his planned retirement. Ng is a seasoned banker with broad experience and in-depth knowledge of the financial industry. In the earlier part of her career, from 2000 to 2006, she was in corporate banking at UOB…