Author: Fintech News Malaysia

Touch ‘n Go Group (TNG) and Principal Asset Management today jointly announced that Principal e-Cash Fund, the underlying fund for Touch ‘n Go’s GO+, is now Shariah-compliant. TNG said in a statement that this makes GO+ fund Malaysia’s first shariah compliant e-wallet product. Through this Shariah-compliant fund, Touch ‘n Go added that its “customers will still gain access to low-risk money market investments for as low as RM10 and earn the same potential return on daily basis whilst being able to use the funds for all transaction over its e-wallet”. GO+ was first launched in March 2021 and has currently…

Airasia Money today announced the roll out of digital car insurance products made possibe thanks to a partnership with local insurtech firm, PolicyStreet. The services offered includes insurance and road tax renewal and price comparison of various insurance. Amanda Woo, airasia Super App CEO said, “Customers can expect more fintech offerings on the airasia Super App as we continue to strengthen, innovate and stay relevant in the market through airasia money. Our partnership with PolicyStreet enables us to offer greater options, value and speed in the digital car insurance market. AirAsia has always been about inclusivity. Much like how AirAsia…

Regulatory changes, advances in technology, and the entry of new players in the Malaysian banking sector are forcing incumbents to embrace cutting edge technologies and build strategic ties to remain competitive, experts said during Huawei and Fintech News Malaysia’s Digital Banking Symposium. C-levels from Hong Leong Bank, Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad, TNG Digital and Huawei Cloud, gathered for a live panel discussion organised to discuss key trends shaping the banking sector and the implications of the country’s forthcoming digital banks. Top trends happening in Malaysia’s BFSI space Domenic Fuda, Group Managing Director and CEO of Hong Leong Bank, said the…

Malaysia-based insurtech firm VSure.life has secured a RM12 million investment from ACE market-listed Revenue Group through its wholly-owned subsidiary company Revenue Harvest as well as approved by Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) to participate in its fintech sandbox. The partnership between VSure and Revenue Group enables the company to access the latter’s B2B2C payment ecosystem and solutions to further strengthen its offerings to Malaysians. Additionally, the firm said in a statement that the approval from BNM indicates its readiness to be commercially tested in the Malaysian market as a lifestyle digital insurer. In the initial stage, VSure will be rolling out…

WorldRemit, a London-based digital cross-border payments company, has officially launched its money transfer services for Malaysian customers via its app and web platform. Customers can now send money from Malaysia, in addition to 50 other countries including the UK and the USA, to more than 130 destinations. Depending on their location, customers can choose from multiple payout methods for the recipient including bank deposits, payments to mobile wallets, cash pick-up and mobile airtime top-up. Previously, WorldRemit had participated in Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) Fintech Regulatory Sandbox Framework but was unsuccessful and pursued the licensing route instead. WorldRemit is currently fully…

The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) and Maybank have jointly launched the Maybank-Bakong Cross Border Funds Transfer, a real-time funds transfer service between Malaysia and Cambodia through the NBC’s Bakong e-wallet and Maybank’s MAE app. Bakong is a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) project developed by NBC, the first central bank in South East Asia to do so. Maybank is the first bank in the world to partner the NBC for its Bakong international payment and remittance system. The service allows Maybank customers in Malaysia to transfer funds directly to their friends, family or business partners in Cambodia via…

Digital bank aspirant BigPay announced today that it has finalised up to US$100 million in financing from South Korean conglomerate SK Group. This is the first time any portfolio company within airasia Digital has secured financing of this size. The funding from one of South Korea’s largest conglomerates and tech innovator further strengthens AirAsia’s digital endeavour as it accelerates the scope of growth for its digital businesses, including logistics and financial services. The funding comes a few weeks after BigPay announced its application for a Malaysian digital banking license. BigPay had entered into a consortium with Malaysian financial institution MIDF…

Torum, DeFi and NFT social media platform that is specially designed for cryptocurrency users, announced an undisclosed strategic investment by Huobi Ventures, the US$100 million venture arm of Huobi Group, to foster blockchain adoption and ecosystem expansion. On the eve of the project’s first-year launch anniversary, Torum released its H2 strategic ecosystem expansion plan, prioritising the construction of a one-stop crypto ecosystem. The plan includes core features that aim to solve the industry’s information asymmetry problems and improve the connection between projects and communities through a social-based ecosystem. The expansion plan has caught the attention of the Huobi Ventures’ HECO…

Merchantrade Asia has partnered with NPCI International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), to offer real-time remittances to India through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). UPI is an instant real-time payment system developed by  NPCI to facilitate inter-bank transactions that is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India. This partnership will enable Merchantrade and its network to connect to NPCI and facilitate remittance to banks in India via UPI IDs. International partners will be able to transfer funds to beneficiaries on-boarded on UPI apps which means anyone from the Merchantrade network will be able to make…

Fave, Southeast Asia’s payments app, has emerged as another non-bank participant to offer DuitNow QR, Malaysia’s national QR standard to merchants in the country. This move was made possible through a partnership with the Payments Network Malaysia (PayNet). The introduction of FavePay DuitNow QR will enable customers to use a single preferred QR code to make payments at 20,000 restaurants and retailers nationwide using the Fave app or other digital wallets and mobile banking apps. Fave aims to simplify the mobile payment landscape while allowing merchants to gain access to 32 participating banks and major e-wallets as well as declutter…

Huawei held its first virtual Asia-Pacific Intelligent Finance Summit 2021 with the theme “Accelerate Digital Transformation in Banking, New Value Together” on 29 July 2021. As economies across the Asia-Pacific region continue to recover and rebound, leading banks and financial institutions are accelerating digital transformation, seizing new digitalisation opportunities to reinvent themselves for what the future holds. This event attracted more than 1,300 financial industry customers, partners, industry experts and media across Asia-Pacific regions. Huawei invited its core customers and partners from the  financial industry which includes the likes of BDO Unibank, KASIKORN Business – Technology Group (KBTG), PwC and…

Hong Leong Bank is calling all budding disruptors to join its ‘Can You Hack It’ Virtual Hackathon ASEAN Edition 2021 to find and co-create Innovative solutions focused on ESG. This virtual hackathon themed ‘Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”)’ aims to get creative ideas and unique solutions on how people in the region interpret ESG and how technology can be leveraged to improve digital banking products, services and experiences. With the focus on ESG, this year’s problem statement categories include community banking, community investment, climate-positive financing, socially responsible business and financial literacy. Teams are expected to use the likes of big…

The state government of Sarawak has joined forces with Kenanga Investment Bank and Revenue Group to submit an application for a digital banking license from Bank Negara Malaysia. The three entities formed a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for a consortium named SSG Digital Resources Berhad for this purpose. The consortium was formed with the aim to improve and transform the lives of underserved and unserved Malaysians, including individuals and micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) through transparent and affordable digital banking solutions. Sarawak has emerged as the third state government to throw its hat in the ring to bid for one…

CIMB Bank and CIMB Islamic Bank have launched the CIMB OctoSavers Savings Account-i, its first all-digital Islamic account where the account opening and onboarding process is self-executed entirely online. New customers will receive the newly launched Octo Debit Mastercard through mail for a convenient branchless experience. The fully online account opening procedure is made possible through leveraging Bank Negara’s electronic Know-Your-Customer (e-KYC) guidelines. The new end-to-end digital onboarding helps to further safeguard customers’ health during the pandemic by not having them step foot in a branch. New customers who are Malaysian citizens aged 18 years and above may apply for…

Malaysian telecommunications service provider U Mobile’s standalone e-wallet GoPayz has collaborated with gold bullion trader ACE Capital Growth (ACE), a subsidiary of Ace Innovate Asia, to launch GoGold. This latest digital service found on the GoPayz app enables users to buy and sell digital gold on ACE’s secure and Shariah-compliant platform with ease. U Mobile claims that this is one of the lowest gold price spreads in the Malaysian market. Apart from that, GoGold also offers great accessibility as users may opt to purchase digital gold from as low as RM5. To mark the launch of GoGold, the first 5,000…

Singapore’s wealth platform iFAST Corporation announced that the group’s Malaysian operation, iFAST Capital, has launched trading capabilities in US and Hong Kong-listed securities. The offerings include stocks and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) on FSMOne, its Business-to-Consumer (B2C) online multi-asset digital investment platform, which caters to self-directed investors. The addition of US and Hong Kong stockbroking services in Malaysia follows the introduction of stocks and ETFs listed on the local stock exchange in March 2021. This is in line with the group’s objective of providing a comprehensive wealth management platform in Malaysia, similar to its other core markets such as Singapore…

Homegrown e-wallet Boost has introduced three new bill payment features to provide Malaysians with the ability to pay their bills with a tap of a button without the hassle of multiple payment platforms and portals. The new features; AutoBills, MultiBills and ViewBills are available on a single, centralised platform in the Boost app. Of the three new features, AutoBills allow users to set automated recurring monthly payments. MultiBills, on the other hand, allows users to pay multiple bills in one go. This feature can be likened to adding all bills due into a shopping cart and paying them all easily…

Publicly listed PUC Berhad, the e-commerce platform that was formerly known as 11street, revealed that Sabah and Pahang are the two state governments that it has partnered with to bid for one of the 5 digital banking licenses that Bank Negara Malaysia will issue early next year. PUC is leading the consortium with another unnamed conglomerate in addition to the other two state governments. The consortium said that it recognises that there is a sizeable under-served segment which includes micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and B40 segment consumers (the bottom 40% of the Malaysian household income) in the country.…

Simply stated, synthetic identity theft is when a fraudster combines the personal information of different real-life people to create an authentic-looking digital identity. These identities can include Personally Identifiable Information (PII) such as name, identity card number, birth date and home address (including the use of children’s IDs since they have no credit records). This data often comes from the global breaches we hear about on a near-daily basis. When these data points are combined in the right way, new identities are crafted to use the real-world parts to create a convincing online consumer. Yet, synthetic identity theft isn’t a…

UOB Malaysia announced the launch of a digital account opening service that enable customers to open a personal bank account anytime, anywhere via the bank’s UOB Mighty app. The bank said that its customers can now complete the onboarding process in just 10 minutes, reducing the average time it typically takes to open an account in person by up to 60 percent. This move was made possible thanks to the e-KYC guidelines that Bank Negara Malaysia had released in June 2020 in preparation for its digital banking push in the country. Upon submitting the application, customers will receive a notification…