Crowdfunding
Funding

pitchIN Secures RM 5.5 Million Through Its Own Equity Crowdfunding Campaign

									by Fintech News Malaysia
June 16, 2021
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pitchIN, a Malaysian equity crowdfunding platform (ECF), announced that it has concluded its very own equity crowdfunding campaign on Leet Capital with RM 5.5 million raised from 322 investors.
This fundraise will enable pitchIN to expand its operations to serve more businesses and investors as well as offer new services.
Additionally, pitchIN will open a secondary market for its ECF platform later this year and it has also applied for a license to operate an IEO platform with plans to launch more services in the next few years.

The 322 investors consisted of retail, angel and sophisticated investors and included several notable investors.
Well known serial entrepreneur and startup investor Ganesh Kumar Bangah, ex MCMC Chairman Dato Sharil Tarmizi, Chan Kok San, the co-founder of publicly listed company Aimflex and Simpson Wong Kean Hin, the Managing Director of Shellys Marketing, which operate XES shoes outlets, also participated in the ECF campaign.
The firm had announced in April 2021 that it was looking to raise between RM 3 million to RM 5 million from its first ever fundraising exercise.
pitchIN is also looking to raise an additional RM 5 million from institutional investors who have been identified and is expected to close fairly soon.
Sam Shafie
Sam Shafie, CEO of pitchIN said,
“Our campaign target was RM5 million. The campaign ended up with around RM5.65 million raised. To not disappoint investors, pitchIN accepted all investors but returned some of the funds to keep our fundraising amount to RM5.5 million.

pitchIN is a fintech and the market opportunity is huge. There are over 900,000 SMEs in Malaysia alone. What we have done to date is just the beginning. pitchIN has lots of potential to unlock”.
Kashminder Singh, CSO of pitchIN added,
“We are overwhelmed by the support shown by investors for our first ever fundraising campaign. In 2015, we launched pitchIN with our own funds because we believed in the importance of democratising the fundraising industry.

We are grateful that we have been able to create a platform that has helped 112 SMEs and startups raise capital from over 5500 investors. These new funds will enable us to offer our services to more SMEs and startups”

Featured image: (left) Kashminder Singh, CSO of pitchIN and (right) Sam Shafie, CEO of pitchIN

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Payments

Malaysia and Thailand Announces Cross Border QR Payments

									by Fintech News Malaysia
June 18, 2021
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Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Bank of Thailand (BOT) today launched a cross-border QR payment linkage between Malaysia and Thailand.
Under this linkage, consumers and merchants in both countries will be able to make and receive instant cross-border QR code payments. The project that commenced in June 2020 will be completed in three phases. Today marks the completion of the first phase in linking the real-time retail payment systems of RPP/ DuitNow in Malaysia and PromptPay in Thailand.
Thailand has also similarly entered into an arrangement with Singapore for an interoperable payments system.

Under the first phase, users in Thailand are now able to use their mobile payment applications to scan DuitNow QR codes to make payment to merchants in Malaysia including for online cross-border e-commerce transactions. This service is expected to benefit more users in both countries when international travel resumes, as they can make payment using their mobile payment applications instead of using cash.
Under phase two, users in Malaysia will be able to use their mobile payment applications to scan Thai QR codes to make payment to merchants in Thailand. This phase is expected to go live in the fourth quarter of 2021.
The last phase of the linkage will be expanded to include cross-border remittance. Users in both countries will be able to make real-time fund transfers conveniently by referencing the mobile phone number of the recipient. This functionality is expected to go live in the fourth quarter of 2022.
This collaboration represents a key milestone in the ASEAN Payment Connectivity initiative that promotes financial integration in the region through increased efficiency, reduced costs and improved user experience for cross-border payments.
The retail payment linkage will serve as an important enabler to support post-pandemic economic recovery by further strengthening economic ties between participating countries.
Mr. Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour, Deputy Governor of BNM, said on this occasion:
Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour
“The retail payment linkage will enhance the efficiency and convenience of cross-border payments by providing users with faster, cheaper, and more inclusive payment arrangements. This will give more options for consumers and merchants in the cross-border payment space and serve as a key enabler to strengthen regional connectivity and financial integration.”
Ronadol Numnonda
In addition, Mr. Ronadol Numnonda, Deputy Governor of the BOT said:
“The BOT recognizes the significance of cross-border payment system linkages and has continuously pursued such initiatives. This connectivity builds on our domestic payment infrastructure which will facilitate cross-border retail payment activities between the two countries during and after the pandemic. More importantly, it will also facilitate the cross-border trade and e-commerce, thus contributing to economic growth and digitalization.”
CIMB Thai Bank and Public Bank Berhad are the first two banks that have participated in the linkage and started offering the instant cross-border QR code payment service to their customers. More payment service providers are expected to participate in offering such service, thus broadening the network of users and merchants.
This project is made possible with the collaboration from various stakeholders from both countries. These include the Payments Network Malaysia (PayNet) and the National ITMX (NITMX) as payment system operators, as well as banks in the CIMB Group as the settlement banks that are responsible for the settlement of cross-border transactions performed via the QR payment linkage between Malaysia and Thailand.

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Blockchain/Bitcoin

BNM to Prioritise Pilot Projects for Digital Currencies in 2021-2022

									by Fintech News Malaysia
June 23, 2021
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Malaysia’s central bank will be running a proof-of-concept (PoC) project to gauge the merits of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) with an initial focus on wholesale CBDCs, Suhaimi Ali, Director of Financial Development and Innovation at Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), said during a Fintech Fireside Asia session. He revealed that at the initial stage BNM is unlikely to focus on a retail CBDC similar to China’s digital yuan or Sweden’s e-krona.
“We acknowledge that the CBDC landscape is evolving very rapidly, particularly over the past year due to the rapidly evolving digital assets and payment space which has prompted central banks globally,” Suhaimi said.
With its CBDC PoC project, Suhaimi said the central bank’s intent is two-fold. First, it wants to better understand the implications and associated risks of introducing a CBDC. Second, the regulator wants to see what a CBDC would look like and how it would operate in a market that has its own specificities.
“This will help determine the appropriate CBDC design and then we will be able to assess whether it creates the potential value that we need in the longer term. Then we will be able to build our own capabilities,” he added.
Suhaimi Ali, Director of Financial Development and Innovation at Bank Negara Malaysia
In Asia, Malaysia is behind its neighbour in the CBDC arena, especially compared to nations such as Cambodia, Thailand, Mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore, which have emerged as being amongst the most mature CBDC projects to date, an analysis released earlier this year by PwC shows.
Around the world, CBDC engagement and development have accelerated over the past year amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Many central banks are now moving into more advanced stages in their CBDC efforts. Latest research by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) released in January 2021 found that about 60% of central banks are conducting experiments or PoC projects, up from 42% in 2019, while 14% are moving forward to development and pilot arrangements.
Bitcoin’s Status as a Legal Tender in Malaysia
In a world’s first, El-Salvador announced in early June that the Central American nation will be adopting Bitcoin as a legal tender. Seeking Bank Negara Malaysia’s stance on this, we asked Suhaimi if Malaysia will be accepting Bitcoin as a legal tender any time soon.
In response, Suhaimi said that in order for Bitcoin to be considered a legal tender it must first meet the characteristics of money; a store of value, a medium of exchange, and a unit of account. In his view, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin do not exhibit the “universal characteristics of money” because it “has no formal backing for its value and is subject to market forces”, therefore it is an unsuitable store of value.
He adds that Bitcoin is also unsuitable as a medium of exchange given the “price volatility and lack of scalability”.
Suhaimi further emphasised that policy decisions have to be based on each country’s unique circumstances, while Bitcoin may not be suitable for Malaysia’s environment, there may be merits to adopt it as a legal tender in El Salvador.
He adds,
“Remittance make up 20% of El Salvador’s in 2019, making it one of the highest ratios in the world. Bitcoin enables faster and cheaper remittance back to El Salvador. The move to accept Bitcoin is also an attempt to improve financial inclusion and provide access to financial services, around 70% of people do not have bank accounts there.
Thirdly, unlike Malaysia, El Salvador does not have its own currency and has relied on the US dollar as a legal tender, so the acceptance of Bitcoin may help the country to reduce its reliance on the US dollar and subsequently its monetary policies”.

The timestamp for the conversation can be found below where Suhaimi spent 30 minutes explaining Bank Negara Malaysia’s stance on digital currencies:

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E-Wallets
Insurtech

E-Wallet Boost Launches Three More Insurance and Takaful Plans

									by Fintech News Malaysia
June 25, 2021
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Axiata Digital’s e-wallet Boost has introduced three new micro-insurance and takaful plans under ‘Boost Protect’ to further provide Malaysians with affordable and premium coverage.
The addition of MozzieProtect, FamilyProtect and Critical Illness Care bring the total coverage plans to 13.
These offerings were underwritten by three Great Eastern entities; Great Eastern Life Assurance (Malaysia), Great Eastern General Insurance (Malaysia) and Great Eastern Takaful.

Great Eastern had previously invested US$70 million into Axiata Digital in June 2020, which was the largest fintech investment at that time.
As a value-added benefit, the three new plans come with COVID-19 Vaccine Fund Assistance.
Additionally, to enhance the value proposition of its micro-insurance and takaful offerings, Boost has also included a new recurring payment feature.
This feature will now allow users to automatically pay for their coverage plans on a monthly basis without the need of repurchasing or re-participating, ensuring continuous coverage.
At the same time, it helps breakdown the total coverage plan amount into monthly payments, making it even more affordable for users by easing the burden to pay a lump sum payment upfront.
The new recurring payment feature is applicable to six coverage plans, namely BillProtect, CardProtect, HospiCash, Protect Super6, ProtectActive, and SME OwnerProtect.
The e-wallet first launched ‘Boost Protect’ micro-insurance and takaful offerings back in August 2020, marking its foray into digital financial services.
Mohd Khairil Abdullah
Mohd Khairil Abdullah, CEO of Boost shared that since last August to May 2021, the e-wallet has seen more than 23 times increase in the uptake of ‘Boost Protect’ coverage plans.
“The plans are diverse that it covers a range of lifestyle needs including young adults, fitness enthusiasts, smartphone users, adults with family or elderly parents and even SME owners.

This is a big part of our commitment to provide an essential toolkit with innovative features, making it easier and convenient for you to access everything you need at your fingertips with your smartphone in this digital-first world,”
Khairil added.

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Regtech/Regulation
Security

Innov8tif’s eKYC Solution Granted Patent to Verify Malaysian IC Microprints

									by Fintech News Malaysia
June 28, 2021
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The Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) has granted Innov8tif Solutions a patent for its method of verifying the authenticity of a Malaysian identity document using a computer vision algorithm known as microprint detection technique.
Microprint is a security feature found in Malaysian identity cards (IC), various government issued identity documents around the world, and banknotes.
Microprint detection technique is a key feature in Innov8tif’s EMAS OkayDoc product – part of the company’s EMAS eKYC suite, to effectively determine if an image of identity document was captured from genuine IC or a colour-printed copy.

This is achieved by analysing the quality of microprint extracted from a document image; there are subtle differences between an original pattern versus a copy.
This patented technology has already been successfully commercialised to support online and automated verification of customer’s identity for account registration and product application use cases ranging from telecommunication industry to fintech, insurtech, wealthtech, proptech and lawtech.
According to Tien Soon, Innov8tif’s Chief Operating Officer, most eKYC solutions rely on the hologram detection of the ICs which require a certain lighting condition, he explains that this is why the tilting of IC is required during the digital onboarding process of certain apps. He further adds that microprint detection gives them an edge in the sense of optimising the acceptance.
Innov8tif said that it supported 3.5 million online identity verification transactions in 2020.
Tien-Soon Law
“Innov8tif has more than ten methods to complete the document authentication process of an identity document. Microprint authentication is one of them, and as we have discovered a unique method to accomplish the automation of this work for ‘physical-document-not-present’ scenario, there was a motivation for us to protect our intellectual property rights through filing of such invention for patent grant application,”
said Tien-Soon Law, Innov8tif’s Chief Operating Officer.

Featured image: Tien-Soon Law, Innov8tif’s Chief Operating Officer

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Islamic Fintech
Lending

Split Emerges as First Malaysian Shariah-Compliant Buy Now, Pay Later Operator

									by Fintech News Malaysia
June 30, 2021
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Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) platform Split announced that its services has been reviewed and certified as a Shariah-compliant by the Masyref Advisory, a local advisory firm devoted to Islamic banking and finance.
Split said that it is the first BNPL operator to have their offerings certified as Shariah-compliant by the advisory firm.
The Shariah certification of Split provides assurance to both Muslim consumers and merchants with the confidence to use Split’s BNPL payment service that is in accordance with Islamic principles.

The criteria involved in Masryef’s Shariah assessment includes the structure of the business model and the process flow.
The startup added that the Shariah compliance certification affirms its transparency, with zero fees including no interest, late fees or processing charges as Split users will only pay for the price of their order.
Instead, merchants are charged a percentage of the success fee for every order processed by Split.
Split said that does not monetise from late fees or other charges that are conditional upon users missing payments.
Dylan Tan
Dylan Tan, Co-Founder and CEO of Split, said,
“The importance of localising our offering to meet the needs of Malaysians cannot be understated. We want our BNPL service to be accessible to all, which in Malaysia, includes a large population of Muslims.
Khairil Anuar

We are delighted to announce this certification as it provides our merchants and users the confidence and comfort knowing that they are choosing a BNPL option that is operated in accordance with their religious beliefs.”
Khairil Anuar, Principal at Masryef Advisory said,
“Split’s business model stands out in the fast-growing BNPL space where their users do not get charged any interest or even late fees.

The Shariah compliance certification is an important element in providing a buy now pay later offering that can cater to a Muslim-majority country like Malaysia.”

Featured image: Edited from Unsplash

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WealthTech

MIDF’s New Digital Investment Platform Allows Malaysians to Invest in US Stocks and ETFs

									by Fintech News Malaysia
July 6, 2021
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MIDF Amanah Investment Bank, a subsidiary of Malaysian Industrial Development Finance (MIDF), unveiled its online investment platform MIDF Invest which allows Malaysians to invest in stocks and ETFs listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq.
The MIDF Invest app that provides tutorials and research for the novice, charting and other powerful trading tools for the advanced user, and simplifies fund transfers to and from the investor’s Malaysian bank account.
Users can open an Islamic account and invest in the large universe of Shariah-compliant shares such as Apple, Alphabet, Facebook and Tesla and ETFs listed on the NYSE and Nasdaq.

From 6 to 31 July 2021, MIDF Invest will offer free brokerage for all trades under US$1,000.
This product is delivered in partnership with Saxo Markets Asia Pacific which is a licensed subsidiary of Saxo Bank, a regulated provider of investment services and technology.
Dato’ Charon Wardini Mokhzani
Dato’ Charon Wardini Mokhzani, Group Managing Director of MIDF said,
“In recent years Malaysian investors, both fund managers and individuals, have become more sophisticated and knowledgeable, and we have seen a growing interest in investing in other markets, particularly into the US stock markets.

We have created this app because we believe that investing overseas should be made available and affordable for all.”
Khairi Shahrin Arif Baki
Khairi Shahrin Arif Baki, Senior Vice President and Head of Digitalisation for MIDF said,
“The power to make money work for you is in your hands via MIDF Invest.

So, whether your aim is to achieve a financial goal or just to earn some passive income, now it can be done with confidence and ease,”

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Lending

Atome Teams up With Pine Labs to Expand Its BNPL Acceptance in Malaysia

									by Fintech News Malaysia
July 7, 2021
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Singaporean Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) platform Atome announced that it has partnered with Pine Labs, an India-based merchant commerce platform, to expand its BNPL acceptance in Malaysia.
They said that this offering enables seamless, flexible instalment payment options across over thousands of merchant establishments in Malaysia that are already on the Pine Labs’ network.
Pine Labs said in a statement that it has “pioneered the BNPL category in India where it now has 95% market share of offline BNPL services”.

The company has already onboarded merchants and top banks like CIMB Bank, AmBank, HSBC Bank, AFFIN BANK, and RHB Bank on its platform since its launch in Malaysia in March 2021.
The firm had also recently acquired local payments platform Fave in a deal worth RM185 million in April.
Meanwhile, Atome said that has partnered over 3,000 online and offline retailers in nine markets including Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand and mainland China.
In Malaysia, the BNPL platform has partnered with over 200 online and offline merchants.
Chayan Hazra
“With Atome, we are able to open newer categories for affordability and bring in newer customer segments who might not be traditional credit card customers. It’s a win-win for both merchants and their customers.

We’re excited to partner Atome, a well-known player in this space. Together, we aim to delight merchants in Malaysia and help them drive business growth through BNPL payment acceptance processed via Pine Labs merchants payment technology,”
said Chayan Hazra, Head of Payment Business (APAC) at Pine Labs.
Trasy Lou-Walsh
“We’re excited to be the first BNPL brand to partner Pine Labs in Malaysia. This partnership will enable a quicker, smoother and more seamless payment experience across thousands of point-of-sale checkouts in Malaysia.

The movement control order (MCO) has placed a huge strain on Malaysia’s retail sector and this partnership will support and drive recovery in retail sales while empowering consumers to shop and pay flexibly, safely, and responsibly,”
said Trasy Lou-Walsh, General Manager for Atome Singapore and Malaysia.

Featured image: Edited from Unsplash

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Payments

BigPay Pushes Into Thailand With Acquisition of Gojek’s Thai Payment Business

									by Fintech News Malaysia
July 8, 2021
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BigPay is accelerating its entrance into Thailand following Airasia’s recent acquisition of Gojek’s Thailand business through its digital arm in a deal worth RM208 million (US$50 million).
This move comes ahead of AirAsia‘s plans to launch a super app in early August.
According to The Edge, AirAsia Group’s Chief Executive Officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes said that “Gojek’s investment is valued at US$40 million while GoPay’s is at US$10 million, and these will be transferred into shares for the AirAsia Super App, which is valued at US$1 billion”.

This will mean that the Indonesian ride-hailing app will hold a 4.76% stake in the app following the stock swap.
Provided that it receives the necessary regulatory approvals, BigPay is aiming to go live in the first quarter of 2022.
Both parties will be working closely together with the Bank of Thailand in order to ensure a smooth transition while GoPay winds down its operations in Thailand.
BigPay said that its goal is to launch with all of its core features, from payments to international remittance, but also to fully localise its user experience to appeal specifically to Thai consumers.
The firm had also announced last week that it had applied for a digital banking license in Malaysia with a consortium of strategic partners.
Since 2017, BigPay has launched a number of regulated financial products, from e-money and international remittance to micro insurance and budgeting.
Available in Malaysia and Singapore, BigPay is now continuing its expansion throughout ASEAN.
Salim Dhanani
Salim Dhanani, CEO & Co-Founder of BigPay said,
“We’re committed to enabling access for financial services for everyone across Southeast Asia. We have a unique opportunity to enter into Thailand at an accelerated pace. We’re excited to be given the opportunity to enter such a unique and connected market.
Aireen Omar
Aireen Omar, President of AirAsia Digital added,
“The acquisition of Gojek and GoPay in Thailand has accelerated the launch for all our companies into the market. What Gojek has already achieved through its expansion of GoPay in Bangkok can be leveraged and we can take it to new boundaries to deliver greater convenience for the people of Thailand”

Featured image: Bigpay image screengrab from AirAsia; Thailand image from Unsplash

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Lending

Australia’s Fatfish Group to Roll Out its “PaySlowSlow” BNPL Services In Malaysia

									by Fintech News Malaysia
July 8, 2021
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Melbourne-based tech venture builder and accelerator Fatfish Group (FFG) announced that it is establishing a new retail Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) brand PaySlowSlow in South East Asia.
PaySlowSlow will be its flagship brand that will be undertaking FFG’s retail BNPL business in Southeast Asia.
FFG said that it “aims to make PaySlowSlow a prominent retail BNPL brand that will be active in various major geographical markets of Southeast Asia”.

The first geographical market in which Fatfish intends to introduce the PaySlowSlow brand will be Malaysia, where various FFG businesses have presence in.
PaySlowSlow Sdn. Bhd. has been incorporated as a subsidiary of FFG in Malaysia and will be carrying out business activities under the PaySlowSlow brand.
It will be working closely with Fatfish’s other Malaysian subsidiary, Forever Pay Sdn. Bhd., to comply with the regulatory requirements to roll out retail BNPL services in Malaysia.
Though it is unclear which regulatory requirement FatFish is referring to as there is no existing regulatory framework in Malaysia to regulate BNPL schemes.
The financing of business activities under the PaySlowSlow BNPL brand will come from existing working capital of FFG.

Featured image credit: edited from Pexels

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WealthTech

CapBay Introduces Guarantee Programme for P2P Investments Backed by a Reserve Fund

									by Fintech News Malaysia
July 16, 2021
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CapBay, a Malaysian P2P supply chain financing platform, launches CapBay Assure; a guarantee programme that protects an investor’s principal and interest through a reserve fund while ensuring net returns (after fees) of up to 6% p.a.
The Assure Programme is designed to guarantee principal and interest payouts via a reserve fund that maintains a coverage ratio which is three to five times the expected default rate.
CapBay was part of the second batch of P2P licence recipients in 2019 and launched its P2P platform amidst the COVID-19 situation with the intention of widening investment opportunities and providing access to financing to underserved SMEs.

The CapBay Group, which includes their multi-bank supply chain finance platform, has been operating since 2017 and has surpassed RM1.2 billion in transactions.
Recently, CapBay secured their Series A funding to further strengthen its technological infrastructure to enable efficient financing and market expansion in order to reach a wide range of investors and underserved SMEs.
“The structure of the programme gives our more cautious investors an option to significantly reduce their risks in exchange for slightly lower returns.

While we’ve managed to maintain our 0% default rate throughout the pandemic, we believe that CapBay Assure will give investors greater confidence and is an important milestone in making P2P investments mainstream.”
said Ang Xing Xian, Co-founder and CEO of CapBay.

Featured image: Capbay Founders (from left) Edwin Tan, Dion Tan, Darrel Ang and Ang Xing Xian

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Rebooting SME Banking in Southeast Asia

Financial Inclusion
Lending

Rebooting SME Banking in Southeast Asia

									by Fintech News Malaysia
July 22, 2021
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Despite playing a significant role in Southeast Asian economies, most small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) still have limited access to financing and remain to this day largely underserved by traditional banks.
According to the World Bank IFC’s estimates, there is a US$320 billion SME funding gap throughout Southeast Asia today, meaning that about 51% of the region’s SMEs are currently underserved.
Adding to this have been the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures put in place by governments to contain outbreaks. These have had devastating effects on Southeast Asia’s micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), causing massive dislocation and highlighting the financial fragility of many of those businesses.

Khairil Abdullah, Chief Executive Officer, Axiata Digital
“Unlike some of the larger enterprises that have enough in their coffers to withstand some of these prolonged restrictions in the markets, on average, most of the SMEs out there, have probably about 4-5 months of cashflow to be able to sustain a prolonged lockdown, according to our data,” Khairil Abdullah, CEO of Axiata Digital, a subsidiary of telco conglomerate Axiata Group, said during Fintech Fireside Asia’s latest virtual panel discussion.
“We’re starting to see some of those SMEs starting to temporarily shut because of those restrictions, but also at the same time being forced to definitely shut down … There’s a desperate need from SMEs for financial assistance to sustain their businesses going forward.”
Banks are typically reluctant to lend to SMEs, Khairil said, considering them high risk and low value. Plus, many have not invested enough in digital innovation and business capabilities to adequately serve this market, leaving SME banking revenues open for grab by challenger banks and alternative lenders.
“In Malaysia … banks are not really equipped to serve the SMEs in the first place. In a non-pandemic environment, it was already a challenge … [Now with movement restrictions,] you must change your distribution model,” Khairil said.
“The fintech and digital players are the ones going out there and helping the SMEs … From a reach perspective, and a credit processing perspective, they certainly have a lot more capabilities to reach the SMEs in this particular point in time.”
Leveraging technology to serve MSMEs
Increased competition and accelerated digitalization have forced banks to change their attitude towards SMEs and many are finally waking up to the opportunity, said Swapnil Deshmukh, director of business development at Tagit, a Singapore-based digital banking engagement solutions provider.
Swapnil Deshmukh, Director of Business Development, Tagit
“Until a few years ago, when it came to offering digital solutions to SMEs, banks looked at it as a ‘retail plus’ solution, or a ‘corporate light’ digital solution. But that’s not the case anymore,” Swapnil said. “So we’ve seen the conversation changing from ‘Should we focus on SMEs, have a dedicated solution for SMEs?’ to ‘How do you offer the best digital experience and capture that market?’.”
Jeffrey Ng Eow Oo, Head, Group Business and Transaction Banking, RHB
Technology and digital platforms have a key role to play in addressing the market’s underserved segments, said Jeffrey Ng Eow Oo, managing director of RHB’s group community banking division, stressing the need to partner up with ecosystem providers to access alternative data. These can be used to assess a borrower’s risk profile where traditional credit data is lacking.
“If you have enough information, you can do a very good assessment and support some of these businesses,” said Jeffrey.
“The challenge here for banks is … not a lot of institutions have access to those information … In this day and age, collaboration makes a lot of sense especially with partners that are already fully embedded into such an ecosystem.
“As banks start to progress into API banking and get connected with different partners, you have access to a lot more information, and with that you will get to serve a particular segment a lot better than before.”
KJ Balan, Head, SME Banking – Commercial Banking Malaysia, CIMB
At a time of COVID-19 disruption, there’s a need to rethink how credit risk is assessed, said KJ Balan, head of SME Banking for commercial banking Malaysia at CIMB. While in the past, bank statements were a good proxy, they are no longer relevant since businesses are not operating like they would in normal circumstances.
Need for hyper-personalisation
Traditional lenders must also consider that the nature of SME businesses is changing, Swapnil said, noting how diverse and disparate this segment is today with, for example, the rise of the gig economy.
The SME category is made up enterprises employing fewer than 250 employees, and include small enterprises with 50 workers or less, as well as micro-enterprises which employs less than nine people. This makes the SME segment very heterogenous with different segments that have different lifecycles and banking needs.
For example, the micro-enterprise segment typically comprises very small organizations with very streamlined businesses, and three to five employees at most. These typically don’t borrow money at all, and if they do, would rather turn to family and friends, or loan sharks, Khairil said.
These are the companies that are at a greater risk in the pandemic because they don’t have a treasury to weather the storm and face difficulty raising working capital from traditional lenders.
Companies like Axiata Digital on focusing on this segment, addressing the funding gap with a streamlined, digitised loan application and approval process.
Noting the need for more personalised SME banking offerings, Ng said that the sector is now moving towards a more “segment-based and differentiated approach” where different players are serving different lifecycles and markets.
“Banks may not be able to touch all of [the SMEs] and the market is big enough for the peer-to-peer (P2P) lenders and fintechs because the need is huge,” Balan said.
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Lending

BNPL Firm Atome Records 100X Order Volume Growth in Malaysia

									by Fintech News Malaysia
July 23, 2021
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Singapore-based buy now pay later (BNPL) platform Atome announced that its order volume in Malaysia has grown by 100X in the first half of the year.
The company also added that its online and offline merchant network has grown to serve more than 500 retailers now, a 500% increase from when it first launched in Malaysia at the end of 2020.
They said that the rapid growth of the company comes against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic and the extension of the movement control order (MCO) which has seen local retailers struggle.

For retailers, especially SMEs, Atome said that its service helps improve their cash flow and online sales growth and also increases their average ticket order size.
The firm reported that retailers have experienced an average 17% increase in ticket order size since adding Atome as a payment checkout option.
Atome was launched in Malaysia in the last quarter of 2020 with reportedly over 100 merchant partners.
The firm had recently partnered with Pine Labs Malaysia to boost retail business growth by enabling quicker, smoother and seamless BNPL payment acceptance across thousands of point-of-sale checkouts across Malaysia.
Trasy Lou Walsh
Trasy Lou Walsh, General Manager of Atome Singapore and Malaysia said,
“Atome’s strong growth in Malaysia speaks to the value that we are delivering, helping merchants grow their business, driving new leads and sales amid these challenging times.

At the same time, Atome also provides consumers with zero-interest payment flexibility to help budget their spend and purchases responsibly over time.”

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E-Wallets
Insurtech

AIA Malaysia Takes a Minority Stake in TNG Digital, Reportedly Valuing It at RM3 Billion

									by Fintech News Malaysia
July 26, 2021
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AIA Malaysia announced that it will be taking a minor stake in TNG Digital, the owner of Touch ‘n Go eWallet, as part of a long-term strategic partnership.
The Edge reported that this move will make AIA the fourth shareholder of TNG Digital in addition to CIMB Group Holdings, China’s Ant Group and New York-based investment firm Bow Wave Capital Management.
The report quoted a source saying that this “values TNG Digital at about US$700 million or approximately RM3 billion”.

TNG Digital was said to be seeking to raise up to US$150 million by end of 2021 which will surpass that of the current largest fintech funding round of US$ 70 million, a record that is held by its e-wallet competitor, Boost.
This marks the second time an insurer has taken a stake in an e-wallet player following Great Eastern’s investment in Axiata Digital.
Additionally, AIA formed a long-term partnership to provide “innovative and personalised digital insurance solutions” to meet the protection needs of over 16 million Touch ‘n Go eWallet customers nationwide.
AIA will offer Touch ‘n Go eWallet customers a “seamless, convenient and frictionless experience, making it easy to buy, claim and renew policies”.
Touch ‘n Go eWallet’s customers will be able to purchase both directly online as well as through consultative selling provided by AIA’s existing distribution channels, including its 19,000-strong agency force, who are capable of advising on more comprehensive insurance and takaful coverage.
Ben Ng
Ben Ng, Chief Executive Officer of AIA said,
“Today’s announcement marks the continuation of our digital transformation journey and ambition to reach new customer segments using online platforms. More importantly, it reinforces our commitment to bringing new and innovative products to market in this increasingly digital world.”
Effendy Shahul Hamid
Effendy Shahul Hamid, Group Chief Executive Officer of Touch ‘n Go Group said:
“Insurance is a key pillar for us as we continue to expand into financial services, and we look forward to collaborating with AIA to disrupt the segment and bring better and more relevant products and services to Touch ‘n Go eWallet users. We also look forward to AIA’s strategic participation as a shareholder of the Touch ‘n Go eWallet company. Their involvement coincides with our continued evolution into deeper areas of financial services.”

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Regtech/Regulation

UOB Malaysia Rolls Out in-App Digital Account Opening

									by Fintech News Malaysia
July 26, 2021
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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 within two minutes on their application status through the app.
Once the application is verified and approved, customers can then transfer funds to their new bank account to activate it.
Given the movement restrictions to contain the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, more consumers are choosing to bank online instead of going to a branch.
Ronnie Lim
Ronnie Lim, Managing Director and Country Head of Personal Financial Services, UOB Malaysia said,
“By digitalising the application and account opening process, our customers can now apply for a bank account from the comforts of their own home without having to fill in lengthy paper-based forms.

We have also integrated an electronic Know Your Customer (e-KYC) solution to verify and to authenticate the identity of our customers. This means that new customers do not have to visit a branch in person to verify their identity for account opening,”

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WealthTech

iFAST Malaysia’s FSMOne Offers Investment Opportunities in US and HK-Listed Securities

									by Fintech News Malaysia
July 30, 2021
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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 and Hong Kong.
iFAST Capital is licensed by the Malaysian Securities Commission and Bursa Malaysia.
Similar to the competitive pricing structure offered for Bursa-listed stocks, the investor community in Malaysia is now able to transact in US and Hong Kong-listed stocks and ETFs at a commission fee of 0.08%, subject to a minimum of US$ 8.80 (RM 37) or HKD 50 (RM 27) per trade respectively.
The FSMOne platform reportedly approves online account registrations in mere hours. Funding of accounts can be done in Ringgit Malaysia (MYR) via FPX to be converted at competitive forex (FX) rates to USD or HKD.
Wong Weiyi, General Manager of FSMOne Malaysia said that customer service is on the top of their list of priorities. The platform strives to make account opening swift and handy to all Malaysians.
“FSMOne’s service is affordable, transparent and adopts straightforward fee structure, which means no minimum deposit or fees”.
iFAST’s Malaysian arm had recently announced its plans to secure a digital banking license despite its unsuccessful bid for one in Singapore.
The company announced that it will be submitting a bid with three partners, army cooperative Koperasi Angkatan Tentera Malaysia, investment firm THZ Alliance, and Lee Thiam Wah, founder and major shareholder of 99 Speedmart.

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Blockchain/Bitcoin

Binance and CZ Faces Enforcement Action from SC For Illegal Crypto Activities in Malaysia

									by Vincent Fong
July 30, 2021
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The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) today announced enforcement actions against Binance for illegally operating a crypto exchange in Malaysia. The regulator ordered Binance to immediately disable access to its website and app within 14 days from 26th July 2021, immediately cease all forms of media and marketing to investors and restrict Malaysian’s access to the Binance Telegram Group.
The order is issued against its CEO Zhao Changpeng as well as Binance’s four registered entities in the Cayman Islands, UK, Lithuania, and Singapore. The regulator deems the public reprimand necessary as Binance has continued to operate illegally in Malaysia despite being included in the SC’s investor alert list in July 2020.
Securities Commission joins a chorus of regulators around the world cracking down on Binance for carrying out regulated activities without meeting compliance requirements. In a media statement issued Tuesday, Zhao Changpeng said that he was willing to step down from his role as it seeks to set up several regional headquarters and meet licensing requirements.

Investors are advised to stop dealing with and investing through illegal crypto exchanges. The SC urges those who currently have accounts with Binance to immediately cease trading through its platforms and to withdraw all their investments immediately.

Securities Commission Malaysia has been seen ramping up enforcement activities against unregulated operators of late, in April, the regulator blocked access to P2P crypto platform Remitano.
In an interview with Fintech News Malaysia, SC’s Executive Director said that they are ramping up enforcement activities against unregulated platforms as they are seeing a rise in scams and illegal activities in 2020.

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Regtech/Regulation

CIMB Rolls Out eKYC for Its First Fully-Digital Islamic Savings Account ‘OctoSavers’

									by Fintech News Malaysia
August 2, 2021
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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 the OctoSavers Account i through the CIMB Apply app, downloadable from Google Play and the App Store.
The customer verification process through e-KYC will be conducted in the app.
Existing CIMB customers who have a savings or current account with a Malaysian address may apply for the OctoSavers Account-i through the CIMB Clicks website.
Samir Gupta
Samir Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, Group Consumer Banking, CIMB Group said,
“The introduction of the OctoSavers Account-i and Octo Debit Mastercard is a significant milestone in CIMB’s digital banking journey and is particularly timely in the current COVID-19 environment.

The pandemic has not only fast tracked our digitisation initiatives but also accelerated our efforts in charting an optimum, seamless and safe user experience, for the benefit and convenience of our customers.”

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WealthTech

U Mobile’s E-Wallet GoPayz Launches GoGold to Offer Digital Gold Purchase From RM5

									by Fintech News Malaysia
August 2, 2021
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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 to sign up for GoGold will receive free digital gold worth RM5.
On top of that, GoPayz users who spend at least RM20 per transaction on GoGold will also be in the running to win 1 gram of digital gold.
There will be a total of 200 winners who will have the 1 gram of digital gold credited to their GoGold account, and winners will be selected based on every 50th transaction.
Jasmine Lee
“With GoGold, users enjoy huge flexibility as digital gold purchase may be made from as low as RM5. The purchase may also be made via the GoPayz e-wallet and if desired, the digital gold purchased may also be converted to physical gold seamlessly. We believe this is another way that GoPayz is making digital financial services accessible and affordable,”
said Jasmine Lee, Chief Marketing Officer, U Mobile.

Featured image credit: Edited from Pexels

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Digital Transformation
Sponsored Press Release

Huawei Vows To Enable Digital Ecosystem-Based Finance in APAC

									by Fintech News Malaysia
August 4, 2021
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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 IDC to participate in the panel discussion and share their experiences on how they utilised technology to upgrade the industry and range of services on offer by constructing an ecosystem that is agile and intelligent, and ultimately transform themselves into eco-enterprises that are digitally capable.
During the panel discussion, most of the panelists mentioned that they had prioritised investing in their technological capabilities in the past two years and it proved to be a wise move that brought in good returns.
Nicholas Ma
Nicholas Ma, the President of Huawei Asia Pacific Enterprise Business Group mentioned in his opening speech that across the APAC region, Huawei has worked with over 300 leading digital ecosystem partners, to provide ICT services to over 100 financial customers.
“With Huawei 6 scenario-specific solutions, include Financial Cloud, Smart Branch, Financial Ecosystem, Digital Core Banking, Smart Data Center, and Smart Data Storage, aiming to help our customers make smart banking a reality and bringing intelligence to finance.”
added Nicholas Ma.
Huawei’s Response to Digital Transformation
“Huawei has been working with the global financial industry for 10 years and has become an important partner in digital transformation for the industry. Huawei will continue to work with this industry to drive cloud-native computing to ensure financial institutions benefit from a modern and dynamic digital ecosystem that can be continually updated and developed, making use of the latest innovations. Huawei’s ethos is to help financial institutions grow into better digital ecosystem-based enterprises and develop fully connected, intelligent, and ecosystem-based finance together,”
said Jason Cao, President of the Global Finance Business Unit of Huawei Enterprise Business Group.
During Eric Lin, CTO of Huawei Enterprise Asia Pacific Finance Account Department’s presentation, he summarised that there are six important aspects for bank to focus on while designing a strategic plan of the digital transformation journey.
Bank should focus on their customers and partners, by enabling the digital to the core and enhancing data analytics capability to achieve business agility and productivity.
Eric introduced the six solutions Huawei has developed to facilitate the digital transformation from different perspective; the Smart Branch Solution to create stunning customer experience for traditional customers who prefer interpersonal connection as well as the Financial Ecosystem solution to create new business value for customers especially the underbanked or unbanked segments.
Additionally, the Digital Core Banking System is an essential capability for banks to transform while maintaining the stability of the existing system, as well as create new banking services at “fintech speed”.
Next is the Financial Cloud Service which offers banks a secure, fast and scalable cloud environment with minimum upfront investment.
The Smart Data Center includes both SDN and DCI solution as well as modular Data Center, which allows customer to build their data center anywhere with lower cost.
Lastly, the intelligent Data Storage Solution with AI-enabled data management services is capable of managing the entire life cycle of data management to assure the banking critical services are running on the highly available and reliable platform.
For more information about Huawei Intelligent Finance Summit 2021, please visit their website.

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Payments

Fave Rolls Out DuitNow QR Offering for Its 6 Million Users

									by Fintech News Malaysia
August 4, 2021
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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 all outlets storefronts from multiple QR codes.
This move will propel merchants to not only accept cross-channel payments, but also improve real-time verification and reconciliation with the FaveBiz platform.
Consumers using the Fave app as their preferred payment app will be able to reap rewards from merchants and earn up to 15% in cashback as well as opt-in for interest-free flexible payments with FavePay Later.
Fave recently launched its Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) service in Malaysia and Singapore, providing over 6 million of its users with instant access to interest-free credit to be used at over 40,000 stores as a pilot.
Joel Neoh
“More Malaysians are abstaining from paying with physical currency due to COVID-19 and MCO; we are seeing a surge in cashless transactions and an opportunity for greater nationwide user adoption.

We’re proud to be one of the early non-bank merchant acquirers for DuitNow QR code and look forward to working closely with PayNet and their partners to enhance interoperability in Malaysia’s e-payments landscape and support merchants in their digitalisation journey,”
said Joel Neoh, Founder of Fave Group.
Khairuan Abdul Rahman
“The prevailing environment has resulted in growing acceptance of cashless payments among Malaysians and provides the impetus needed for increased usage of QR codes for payments.

Having Fave in our DuitNow QR ecosystem will complement and broaden the range of available options to end-consumers,”
said Khairuan Abdul Rahman, Director of Retail Payment Services at PayNet.

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E-Wallets
Payments

Merchantrade, NPCI International Join Forces to Offer Real-Time Remittances to India

									by Fintech News Malaysia
August 5, 2021
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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 real-time remittances to India.
The solution will also feature beneficiary name matching and facilitate all the requisite compliance checks in a safe, secure, and convenient manner.
Ritesh Shukla
Ritesh Shukla, Chief Executive Office, NPCI said,
“Our partnership with Merchantrade will enable customers to enjoy greater efficiency, speed, convenience, and transparency through UPI platform’s real-time capabilities, round-the-clock accessibility, and simple interface. We look forward to attaining greater heights with this partnership.”
Ramasamy K. Veeran
Ramasamy K Veeran, Founder and Managing Director of Merchantrade Asia said,
“Working with NPCI International will enable our customers and partners to more easily transfer funds to India using UPI apps such as BHIM, Google pay, Amazon pay, etc. At Merchantrade we’re continuously upscaling our ecosystem of relevant services through partnerships and collaborations such as this. Our vision is to bring a whole new level of convenience to our customers,”

Featured image: (Left) Ramasamy K Veeran, Founder and Managing Director of Merchantrade Asia and (right) Ritesh Shukla, Chief Executive Office, NPCI

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Blockchain/Bitcoin

Malaysian Crypto Platform Torum Bags Investment by Huobi Ventures

									by Fintech News Malaysia
August 6, 2021
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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 Fund, which led to the strategic investment of the venture capital firm on Torum.
With Huobi Ventures coming into the fold, Torum will assist in the expansion of the Huobi ecosystem from marketing and community building aspects, particularly in connecting Huobi and HECO-based projects with the Western market.
As part of the strategic investment, Huobi Ventures will provide access to resources for exclusive media partners, community building and project connections for Torum.
The resource integration from Huobi will further expand the ecosystem outreach of Torum, which has already accumulated over 64,000 cryptocurrency enthusiasts from over 10 countries including the United States, Canada, Latvia, Spain, Germany, France, Poland and Malaysia, among others.
A key focus of Torum for H2 2021 is to bring onboard quality HECO-based projects to its social media ecosystem.
With the support of Huobi Ventures, Torum can provide premium benefits to HECO-based projects including access to the Western market, community building tools, brand exposure, community integration, and more.
Torum had secured US$ 1.45 million during funding round participated by 13 private investors earlier this year in April.
Yi Feng Go
Yi Feng Go, CEO and Founder of Torum said,
“Community consensus has always been the largest asset of Torum. However, the vast potential of a social media ecosystem like Torum is yet explored completely at such an early phase.

With the support of Huobi Ventures, we are confident that Torum can grow exponentially by bringing onboard HECO-based projects and their communities for the next six to 12 months.”

Featured image credit: Screengrab from Torum

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Payments

Maybank Offers Real-Time Transfers to Cambodia using Central Bank Backed Digital Currency

									by Fintech News Malaysia
August 11, 2021
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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 the MAE app, using just the mobile phone numbers of the recipients registered with Bakong e-wallet.
In the first phase, customers will be able to transfer funds from Malaysia to Cambodia, while transfers from Cambodia to Malaysia will be rolled out at a later date.
According to a joint statement, the service is also affordable as it charges a minimal service fee. Maybank customers are able to transfer funds up to US$ 2,500 (or RM10,000 equivalent) daily via their mobile devices.
Dr. Serey Chea
H.E. Dr. Serey Chea, Assistant Governor and Director General of Central Banking of the NBC said,
“We are very pleased to launch the Maybank-Bakong Cross Border Funds Transfer, which is Bakong’s first inter-country payment service.

Cambodia citizens working or residing in Malaysia will greatly benefit from this service as they are now able to transfer money to their Bakong e-wallets easily and at a low cost.”
Datuk Abdul Farid Alias
Group President and CEO of Maybank, Datuk Abdul Farid Alias said,
“Leveraging our ASEAN connectivity and digital capability, we have transformed the inter-country funds transfer experience between Malaysia and Cambodia, making it the most convenient yet cost-effective in the market.

The launch also marks a new milestone for Maybank’s digital journey as it is the first overseas fund transfer feature on our MAE app.”

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Payments

WorldRemit Arrives on Malaysian Shores To Offer Its Remittance Service

									by Fintech News Malaysia
August 13, 2021
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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 licensed with a Class-B remittance license issued in February 2021 by BNM.
Ridzuan Aziz
Ridzuan Aziz, Country Director for Malaysia at WorldRemit said,
“We’re passionate about making sure that customers can continue to make affordable money transfers to their family and friends in the comfort of their homes.

With communities across the world having to change their lifestyles due to the disruption caused by COVID-19, we’re proud to play our part in making sure our customers can continue to support those dearest to them throughout this challenging time.”

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Financial Inclusion
Lending
Sponsored

Driving Financial Inclusion With BNPL and Smarter Decisioning

									by Fintech News Malaysia
August 19, 2021
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While news headlines broadcasting Buy Now, Pay Later’s (BNPL) incredible adoption trajectory are a daily occurrence, innovative lenders know that BNPL offers more than a growth story.
It’s an opportunity to make headlines about how their business is empowering consumers and driving significant growth in financial inclusion across the Asia Pacific region.
BNPL: Good for Consumers
For many BNPL’s role is to provide consumers with a better checkout experience and interest free alternative to credit cards, it also offers the promise of being able to provide easily accessible and sustainable credit to non-banked and underbanked consumers.
John Warren
“With the average funding amount requested often under $200 in the ASEAN market, and the approval process less complex, BNPL provides the perfect stepping-stone for consumers who would not qualify for or may have already been turned down for more traditional credit products.”
said John Warren, General Manager – APAC at Provenir.
“Gaining access to accessible and affordable credit provides people with the ability to take a step towards their aspirational goals. It can be a life changing opportunity for many of these individuals, and an incredible opportunity for businesses to have a meaningful impact on people’s lives.”
BNPL: Smart for Businesses
Lenders often shy away from the non/underbanked population, not because they’re a known default risk, but because lenders aren’t as confident about predicting the credit risk of individuals who don’t fit traditional credit profiles.
In Asia alone there’s an opportunity to onboard 1 billion underbanked people as new customers if you can find the right way to accurately predict the credit risk of thin file and credit invisible consumers.
But when you overcome that challenge, not only will you empower their next step on the financial ladder but also power business growth.
It’s good for consumers, and it’s good for your business.
Evolving Your Risk Decisioning to Power Financial Inclusion
To support and empower the credit invisible, you need to create a strong risk decisioning foundation that supports these four key pillars:
Access to Alternative Data – bypass traditional credit scores without increasing risk
With traditional credit scores not an option when decisioning applications from credit invisible individuals, you need to be able to easily identify the right data sources and democratise access to that data across the credit lifecycle.
For example, a combination of multiple types of alternative data will be needed to support seamless onboarding and credit risk analysis, this data feed may consist of a combination of telco, social, behavioral, location, transactional, and many other data types.
In fact, 62% of lenders say that using alternative data helped them build profitable new markets.
1. Supports Powerful Analytics Capabilities – Rethink Your Underwriting
With 78% of lenders finding it a significant challenge to evaluate the credit worthiness of non-prime consumers, the need for powerful risk analytics capabilities is clear.
You need model agnostic technology that empowers your risk team to use a wide variety of predictive and ML languages to develop and test new risk models using alternative data.
But building and deploying risk models is just one key aspect, you also need a solution that’s capable of running these models in real-time, so that you can analyse alternative data and generate accurate credit risk predictions without sacrificing the consumer onboarding or merchant checkout experience.
2. Global Support for Regional Data and Product Strategies – Maintain Compliance Across Countries
Maintaining compliance with differing legislation across countries is a major concern for lenders.
With businesses often looking to launch and expand BNPL products in multiple countries keeping track of data use in each country can be complex and time consuming.
To simplify and manage your risk strategies across each country you expand into, look for technology that empowers a global strategy that can be regionalised with different types of alternative data to comply with local legislation.
This empowers you to maintain a global risk policy that can be localised in line with your risk strategy
3. It Empowers Agility – Flexibility to Support Evolving Legislation
As with all new and evolving products/credit features, the legislation controlling how BNPL can be decisioned and used is rapidly evolving.
As the creator and leader of BNPL solutions, it’s fair to assume that the legislative changes happening in Australia are indicative of how the rest of the world may react.
To create a future-proof BNPL product, you need technology that will keep you on the right side of evolving legislations.
Which means, you need to be able to quickly make changes to data sources, adjust decisioning models, increase affordability checks, and make any other process updates as needed.
With the power to take control of your risk strategy you gain the agility to maintain the availability of your products and continue to support consumers, even as legislation evolves.
4. From Credit Invisible to Credit Worthy
What stands between your business and making headlines about your role in taking credit invisible individuals to credit worthy customers is the desire to make a difference and the technology to power to it.
Download Provenir’s e-book to discover the 8 features of fast and future-proof BNPL technology.

Feature image credit: edited from Unsplash and Pexels

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Insurtech

Insurtech Vsure.life Secures RM 12 Million From Revenue, Enters BNM’s Sandbox

									by Fintech News Malaysia
August 17, 2021
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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 a series of “affordable and flexible lifestyle protection plans”. Over the coming months, VSure will be introducing a series of its own underwritten on-demand protection solutions.
This includes the introduction of the pay-per-use feature for its underwritten protection plans that gives consumers the options to select coverage by duration or amount.
Users opting for coverage by duration will have the freedom to purchase protection as low as by the hour, to account for key moments that requires protection.
VSure has also signed strategic and commercial partnerships with a few digital banking license applicants to develop customised and specialised protection coverage plans within the digital banking ecosystem.
The company is also in partnership with locally licensed insurers to feature Life, Health & Medical, Home, Personal Accident, Travel, Motor and Takaful coverage plans, that is available on VSure’s platforms.
Eddy Wong
“We thank both Bank Negara Malaysia and our investors, Revenue, for sharing our excitement for the future that lies ahead. The growing demand for digitalised insurance services is set to propel the size of global insurtech market worth to an estimate of US$ 11.94 billion by 2027.

We are excited to catalyse Malaysia’s insurtech industry and we foresee that an obtainable market size of RM 300 million can be achieved within the next two to three years, as a reflection of our faith in the potential of insurtech in Malaysia.”
commented Eddy Wong, Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director of VSure.life.

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Insurtech

Airasia Money Now Offers Digital Car Insurance Through Partnership with PolicyStreet

									by Fintech News Malaysia
August 17, 2021
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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
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 has allowed everyone to fly, airasia money will give the common man accessibility to some of the best financial services available in the market.”

The partnership with PolicyStreet allows airasia money to offer digital car insurance from the likes of Tune Protect Group Berhad, AXA Affin General Insurance Berhad, Etiqa General Takaful Berhad, Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Am Berhad and many more.
Featured image credit: edited from Unsplash

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E-Wallets
WealthTech

Touch ‘N Go’s Investment Offering GO+ Is Now Shariah-Compliant

									by Fintech News Malaysia
August 18, 2021
0 comments

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 surpassed 1.2 million users to date.
The product essentially combines Touch ‘n Go eWallet’s expertise in technology and ecosystems and Principal’s core expertise in investment strategy and fund management.
Effendy Shahul Hamid
Effendy Shahul Hamid, Group Chief Executive Officer, Touch ‘n Go Group said,
“When we first launched GO+, there were calls from our users for the underlying fund to be Shariah-compliant. We listened to them, and immediately went to work.

We now have a product that is even more inclusive than it was, and perfectly in-line with our goals of bringing basic financial services to everyone,”
Munirah Khairuddin
Munirah Khairuddin, CEO of Principal Asset Management said,
“We are currently the leading Islamic asset manager in Malaysia, among the top five global Islamic asset manager, and at the forefront of developing new Shariah-compliant products and solutions in the global market.

We manage a total of RM96.7 billion funds in Southeast Asia, out of which, RM30.69 billion is Islamic funds, as of June,”

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Payments
Sponsored

Malaysia’s National Technology and Innovation Sandbox Admits Its First Fintech jomSETTLE™

									by Fintech News Malaysia
August 19, 2021
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jomSETTLE™, a fintech platform developed by Mazer Fintech Sdn. Bhd., announced that it is the first fintech to be admitted into the National Technology & Innovation Sandbox (NTIS) spearheaded by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation Malaysia (MOSTI).
The company empowers businesses especially micro businesses and individuals to pay and receive credit card payments virtually from customers or tenant; without the need for a website, payment gateway, or credit card terminal.
Falco Lee
“We aspire to reshape the negative perception of credit cards, which are frequently associated with irresponsible and impulsive spending. With jomSETTLE™, customers can now use their credit cards wisely for essential payments.

In other words, micro SMEs and businesses will now have immediate access to new working capital through their credit card without the hassle of going through the conventional route to apply for business loans or high interest cash advances,”
said Falco Lee, Founder of jomSETTLE™.
NTIS is a Malaysian government initiative to help creators, innovators, startups, and high-tech entrepreneurs to go-to-market to ensure compatibility and suitability of these non-regulated solutions to the market and economy.
As the national solution coordination and facilitation center, NTIS provides relaxations from all or selected processes and/or regulatory requirements to accelerate the development of innovative fintech solutions to being commercially ready.
Among the initiative in the NTIS programme include the Urban Drone Delivery Sandbox, a partnership between AirAsia Digital and MaGIC. The service is now in testing stage with two homegrown drone operators VStream Revolution and Meraque Services.
Other participants in NTIS are DoctoronCall; a medical and healthcare technology, and Vectolabs; country’s first municipal-operated IoT infrastructure.
“We hope through this participation in the NTIS, jomSETTLE™ could demonstrate that a homegrown fintech solution can meet, if not exceed, international standards and requirements from relevant regulatory bodies such as Bank Negara Malaysia,”
added Falco Lee.
On the other hand, jomSETTLE™ is launching its new “Request Payment” method to enable freelancers, consultants or any micro businesses to collect credit card payments from their customers without the need of a website, payment gateway or even a credit card terminal.
Users can request for credit card payments by simply sending a secure payment link via SMS or email to their customers.
Their customers can pay them from anywhere at any time via the payment link issued by jomSETTLE™. This will instantly broaden the payment receiving methods for many.
This will eventually enable them to secure their payments faster and gain a competitive edge over their competitors that are solely dependent on cash terms.

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Digital Transformation
Islamic Fintech
Sponsored

Banks Need to Ramp up Efforts To Win Over Digitally Savvy Muslim Customers

									by Fintech News Malaysia
August 24, 2021
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Banking and financial services platform Mambu released its research series named the Disruption Diaries which seeks to understand what people think of the key trends driving the development of financial services.
In Mambu‘s third edition, the firm conducted a global survey of 2,000 members of the younger Muslim community mainly the Gen Z and millennials to understand what Islamic finance means to them, as well as their expectations of this sector.
As one of the fastest-growing financial industries, Islamic finance continues to grow in size and influence spreading far beyond the Middle East into Muslim-majority countries in Asia and Africa, as well as parts of Europe and beyond.
As a sector, total assets have exceeded US$2 trillion and are expected to reach US$3.8 trillion by 2023.
Greater awareness of Islamic finance, alongside improved legal and regulatory structures in many markets, is supporting the growth of the sector.
A closer look at Malaysia
Malaysian Islamic banks, and conventional banks offering Shariah-compliant products, have a tremendous opportunity to capture the hearts and wallets of young, digitally savvy Muslim customers via innovative digital products and services, but competition will be fierce so organisations will need to act swiftly.
Survey results
Ethical banking is a way for consumers to manage their finances while promoting environmentally and socially conscious practices.
Mambu’s research shows that ethical motivations are a primary driver for the younger Muslim community. 74% of respondents confirm it is important that the investments their bank makes using their money are ethical.
As an API-driven Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, Mambu is uniquely positioned to support your organisation’s Islamic banking ambitions. The full report is available here.

Featured image credit: Photo by Chester Ho on Unsplash

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Payments

HSBC Malaysia Rolls Out Instant Recurring Payment Collection for Businesses via DuitNow

									by Fintech News Malaysia
August 23, 2021
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HSBC Malaysia announced that it has launched the DuitNow Request feature for corporates to streamline the collection of repetitive payments from multiple customers.
This secure, real time payment feature does away with the need for businesses to constantly follow up with customers who fail to make their payments.
The DuitNow Request is an extension of Payments Network Malaysia’s (PayNet) DuitNow ecosystem that allows businesses to make payments using their Business Registration Number (BRN).

HSBC said that this offering will benefit businesses of any scale across different industries to help them transform and digitise their collections by making it more seamless and convenient.
In a statement to Bernama, the bank added that it is the the first bank in Malaysia to offer this service for businesses in a simple three-step process.
Shayan Hazir
Shayan Hazir, Country Head of Global Liquidity and Cash Management at HSBC Malaysia said,
“As a leading international bank that champions digital transformation, we have consistently been supporting our customers by providing them with access to payment and collection services that are innovative, intuitive and powerful to help them navigate through these challenging times.

Through our market-leading and client-centric solutions, we want to digitise our client’s business and help them move towards a cashless and seamless payments and collections model.”

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E-Wallets
Payments

Green Packet’s E-Wallet Kiplepay Launches Visa Prepaid Card

									by Fintech News Malaysia
August 23, 2021
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Kiplepay, a wholly owned subsidiary of Green Packet, has partnered with Visa to introduce the Kiple Visa Prepaid Card.
The partnership, which was first announced in 2020, has rolled out the prepaid card which builds on Kiple’s Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS) ecosystem.
The Kiple Visa Prepaid Card will enable customers, such as students, to go cashless while also facilitating enterprises to fast-track their e-payment solutions in response to the growing demand for cashless services.

On the consumer front, the prepaid card is designed to provide customers instant access to over 70 million merchants in over 200 countries and territories, and can be used in retail stores, as well as online and mobile app stores.
Students in particular, will now have the opportunity to own a card that’s linked to their KipleUNI Student ID through Kiple’s e-wallet, which allows them to receive cashback and merchant discounts.
On top of that, students can carry out transactions securely, make cash withdrawals as needed and even spend overseas using a single card.
For enterprises, Kiple offers a white label WaaS solution coupled with the Kiple Visa Prepaid Card, as part of its services as a Visa Principal Licensee.
This solution is best suited for businesses that are looking to create their own e-wallet, while leveraging the Kiple Visa Prepaid Card’s network.
Kiple said that businesses can roll out their e-payment platforms within four months, accelerating five times their speed to market from the usual 24-months lead time.
As a Visa Ready Certified fintech partner, Kiple is also offering businesses prepaid issuing bank identification number (BIN) sponsorships in Malaysia.
This provides businesses a quick and convenient alternative to offer their own Visa Card using the BIN sponsorship from Kiple to their customers without needing to fulfil the Visa Ready criteria.
Ricky Lew
Ricky Lew, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Kiplepay said,
“We view this strategic partnership with Visa as a concerted effort to reach more Malaysians and are excited to leverage Visa’s merchant acceptance network to better enable our customers in adopting cashless options.

Building on our drive towards delivering seamless solutions for the various segments in Malaysia, these world-class partnerships are a testament to our vision to empower consumers to be a part of the cashless agenda that is also in tandem with the government’s aspirations,”

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Payments

GHL Enables SMEs to Pay Any Suppliers With Credit Cards

									by Fintech News Malaysia
August 24, 2021
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GHL Systems has introduced CARDit which is a platform that utilises a consumer’s credit card limit by allowing them to pay via a credit card to payees that traditionally do not accept credit cards.
While CARDit is available to both businesses and individuals, GHL said that it would be especially beneficial to Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), facilitating credit card payments for suppliers, thus improving business cash flow.
Using CARDit, consumers and businesses can move these regular payments from cash, cheque or bank transfers to their credit cards.

CARDit charges a one-off transaction fee and offers reward points similar to the perks of a credit card.
GHL added that to kick off its first phase, payments for education and tuition fees, rent, condominium fees, and season parking will be accepted before the full rollout to include a myriad other types of payees.
Sean S. Hesh
Sean S. Hesh, Group CEO of GHL Systems said,
“We are thrilled to introduce CARDit by GHL as we believe that the value proposition offered would be extremely beneficial to both consumers and businesses especially those who are looking for a more effective way to manage their cash flow.

We continuously develop innovative payment solutions to accommodate the ever changing needs of our merchant customers as well as consumers in enhancing their payment experience.”

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Blockchain/Bitcoin
WealthTech

Green Packet’s OCIB Plunges Into Crypto With Conditional Investment Bank License

									by Fintech News Malaysia
August 26, 2021
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Oasis Capital Investment Bank (OCIB), a fully-owned subsidiary of Green Packet has been awarded the conditional investment bank license from the Labuan Financial Services Authority (LFSA).
The company is looking to specialise in digital asset portfolio advisory, management services as well as bespoke structured products and services for High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI), institutions’ and enterprises.
The conditional investment bank license is a greenlight by LFSA for OCIB to begin fulfilling operational conditions such as setting up the required processes and technology platforms in accordance with regulatory requirements.

OCIB said that a full operating license will be awarded by LFSA upon fulfilment of these operationalisation activities.
As an offshore investment bank, OCIB added that it will aggregate, deploy, and optimise clients’ funds and digital assets portfolios to ensure that clients can benefit from this emerging asset class while being fully aware of the potential risks.
OCIB will also provide conventional investment banking services such as Private Wealth and Corporate Advisory and solutions in working capital management and underlying trade services to its clients.
Tan Kay Yen
Tan Kay Yen, Chief Executive Officer of OCIB said,
“Our decision to participate in this high-growth specialised investment sector is aligned with Green Packet’s 5.0 strategy and our massive transformation purpose, which is to improve the way we live through continuous digital innovations.

OCIB will spearhead the Group’s offerings within the Blockchain technology space. We see tremendous potential in this space and will strive to help our clients to benefit from this transformational technology.”

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Blockchain/Bitcoin

MX Exchange Gets Green Light to Trade Cryptos, Appoints Former MDEC C-Level as CEO

									by Fintech News Malaysia
August 27, 2021
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MX Exchange has been granted full approval by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) to operate as Recognised Market Operator-Digital Asset Exchange (RMO-DAX) for the trading of cryptocurrencies in Malaysia, making it the fourth DAX permitted to operate in Malaysia.
The trading platform has gone live and is available on desktop and soon as a mobile application. Currently, MX Exchange supports Bitcoin and Ethereum trading pairs with the Malaysian Ringgit.
The trading platform has also appointed Dato’ Fadzli Shah,  Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation’s (MDEC) former Chief Strategy Officer, as its Chief Executive Officer.

He has extensive experience in the digital and startup worlds, both locally and abroad.
Founded in 2018, MX Exchange is a 100% Malaysian owned DAX which aims to add new enhanced features to its trading platform soon.
Dato’ Fadzli Shah
Dato’ Fadzli Shah, CEO of MX Exchange said,
“We look forward to working closely with the SC, the crypto community and local partnerships to build an amazing investor experience and expand Malaysia’s thriving local capital markets. There has been a marked increase in public interest of cryptocurrencies as an alternative investment, and for many, their first ever investment. We see the DAX as a key piece to enable this new generation of financial services balancing investor security and protection, toward shared prosperity.”

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Payments

Soft Space Partners Global Payments to Expand Tap-On-Phone Payments to Taiwan

									by Fintech News Malaysia
September 1, 2021
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Global Payments, a global provider of payment technology and software services, announced that it supports the Soft Space Mobile Tap, a new smartphone-based payment acceptance solution for merchants, in Taiwan.
Developed by Malaysian fintech Soft Space, the solution provides merchants and consumers in Taiwan with a digital, contactless payment option that addresses health concerns and evolving consumer preferences.
With Mobile Tap, merchants can turn NFC-enabled Android smartphones or tablets into portable handheld payment terminals.

Card association partners including Visa Taiwan and MasterCard Taiwan are the official solution providers Global Payments engaged to help offer Mobile Tap to merchants.
Global Payments has begun supporting Mobile Tap at restaurants, food delivery and exhibition sellers and others will be added on a rolling basis.
Soft Space reportedly serves over 30 financial service institutions globally with its SoftPOS solution to support secure PIN entry.
Sean Fu
”We strive to provide cutting edge digital payment options to Taiwan’s small business owners and individual sellers.

We pride ourselves in the role we play helping entrepreneurs build stronger local economies and vibrant communities. We will continue delivering market-leading payments and software solutions so businesses can cultivate their vision of success.”
said Sean Fu, Senior Vice President of Greater China with Global Payments Asia Pacific.
Joel Tay
“The launch of Soft Space Mobile Tap in Taiwan shows that our solution fits even one of the most competitive acquiring markets in the world.

Alongside Global Payments, Visa, and MasterCard, we’re helping the contactless payment culture to thrive as merchants adopt our innovative, low-cost and secure payment technology.”
said Joel Tay, Chief Executive Officer of Soft Space.

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Payments

HK Fintech Unicorn Airwallex Secures License for Cross Border Payments in Malaysia

									by Fintech News Malaysia
September 2, 2021
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Airwallex, a cross border payments company, announced that it has secured a money services business (MSB) license issued by Bank Negara Malaysia.
They said, the new license will allow Airwallex to offer modern, streamlined and integrated international payment solutions for Malaysian businesses of all sizes, from SMEs to larger enterprises, to efficiently manage their operations in Malaysia from early next year.
Airwallex said in a statement that businesses in Malaysia will have access to fast, transparent and cost-effective international payments in multiple currencies, enabling them to operate and grow globally.

Through the Airwallex platform, they will have the ability to collect funds from customers across the globe in different currencies, convert and pay out into preferred currencies.
Airwallex has sets its sights on growing its presence in Southeast Asia, with teams in Singapore and Malaysia to support ASEAN businesses.
Globally, Airwallex currently has licenses and is operational in Australia, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, European Union, and the United States.
Earlier this year, Airwallex announced an additional Series D capital raise of US$100 million which increased its valuation to US$2.6 billion.
Founded in Melbourne and headquartered in Hong Kong, the company has over 900 staff across 12 global offices.
Jack Zhang
Jack Zhang, CEO and Co-founder of Airwallex said,
“Malaysia-based businesses have been looking to tap into Southeast markets to remain competitive, requiring a trusted payment partner for their regional and global expansion. With this new license, Airwallex aims to replicate the success that it has achieved from servicing leading companies in other regions with businesses in Malaysia.

Our solutions will help both local and global businesses in Malaysia focus on their international operations and expansion, without having to navigate the nuances of establishing their own cross-border financial infrastructure.”

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Crowdfunding

Kita Jaga App Looks to Crowdfund RM200,000 on GlobalSadaqah

									by Fintech News Malaysia
September 2, 2021
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Kita Jaga, a digital social mobile app aimed at supporting individuals and families most impacted by the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, is looking to raise RM200,000 through a charity crowdfunding campaign on GlobalSadaqah.
GlobalSadaqah is an Islamic social finance platform focusing on corporate social responsibility, Zakat and Waqf management.
The funds will also be used to increase its sustainability and financial viability and to scale its operations.

Aside from the Malaysia platform, Kitajaga App Founder Reza Razali said the team has also received numerous requests to help set up various platforms in other Southeast Asia countries like Thailand, the Philippines, Bangladesh and Vietnam.
Given the demand, the platform is looking to roll out a new version of their local app, a localised version in the Philippines, followed by five other market countries in the coming months.
The Kita Jaga app was built by a team of local developers at Terato Tech, a Malaysian full-service mobile app development company, amidst the white flag movement or #KibarBenderaPutih.
The web app was initially developed to test out if the concept of putting up a white flag on a digital map, with a clear call to action, would enable people to more easily provide or seek help.
Since launching two months ago, the app has proven to increase the visibility and accessibility to individuals and families in desperate need of aid but were affected by the movement control order restrictions.
A short donation drive on the platform saw strong support from the public, raising more than RM100,000 over two weeks.
With the funds, it developed and launched new features to allow the direct purchase and delivery of essential goods and food to beneficiaries and multiple enhancements to improve user privacy and security.
Since its launch in July 2021, Kitajaga pap has reportedly recorded 1.5 million unique visitors, saw 96,059 white flags raised on the platform and 20,000 people offering help.
Donors can participate in the campaign by donating from RM10 onwards.
Reza Razali
“We recognised that there was not only demand and need to scale and expand, but also a real path to sustainability, and that is the reason why we decided to partner with GlobalSadaqah to launch this campaign.

Our decision to partner with GlobalSadaqah was due to it being one of the leading charity crowdfunding platforms in the region, and from there, we felt that there was a natural synergy,”
said Reza Razali, Founder of Kita Jaga.

Featured image: YouTube screen grab

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Insurtech

AXA Taps Finology to Offer Its Users Digital Motor Insurance

									by Fintech News Malaysia
September 10, 2021
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AXA Affin General Insurance and Finology, a Malaysian fintech company that specialises in enabling seamless lending and insurance for consumers and businesses, has partnered to enable users to purchase or renew car/motorcycle insurance and road tax online
Through Finology’s Loanstreet.com.my, customers can reportedly receive instant quotations for AXA’s insurance to purchase or renew policies in less than five minutes.
This partnership will see Finology as a digital distribution driver for AXA through digital platforms.

Emmanuel Nivet, Chief Executive Officer of AXA said that this partnership will further expand AXA’s distribution footprint in the digital space and enable customers to get protected easily through their preferred channels anytime and anywhere.
Emmanuel Nivet
“At AXA, we believe that digitalization is the way forward to support and deliver greater value to customers; that is why we continuously look for strategic partners to expand our digital distribution channels and enhance accessibility to our products and services.

We are truly excited to partner with Finology to align on our customer-centric values and collectively deliver fast, simple and secure online insurance solutions via innovative digital technology,”
Emmanuel added.
Robin Ang
“We have been focusing on seamless access to financial products to allow convenience and efficiency to consumers. When we first pioneered motorcycle insurance and road tax renewals digitally in 2019, the awareness was low.

However, due to the changes brought about by Covid-19, we have seen a sustained 5x spike in transactions. Our partnership with AXA will further provide our customers with more options from one of the top insurers in Malaysia,”
shared Robin Ang, Executive Director of Finology.

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Insurtech
Sponsored

Insurtech Fatberry Adds Senior Executives to Help Drive Growth

									by Sponsored Post
September 10, 2021
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Malaysian digital insurance platform, Fatberry.com said that it has continued to experience strong growth and has recently added two senior executives to its management team to further drive growth.
Ms. Zoee Kong, Head of Partnership, and Mr. Rev Ong, Head of Traction, have recently joined the growing Fatberry management team.
Ms. Zoee Kong, prior to joining Fatberry, held senior executive positions at various international businesses and notably at global leading insurer AXA, where she was the Regional Head of Telecommunication Partnerships, APAC, and Head of Mobility and Lifestyle Partnerships for Singapore and Malaysia.
Mr. Rev Ong had previously held positions as Team Lead in various engineering and tech startups, including OYO, one Asia’s fastest-growing tech firms.
John Tan
Mr. John Tan, the CEO of Fatberry, commented:
“Our business is growing very rapidly, and we are expanding the talent pool to bring the company to its next growth phase, focusing on bringing the best products and user experience to our customers. We are glad to be adding talented executives like Zoee and Rev to help drive our growth.”
Fatberry said that it has grown tremendously during the last 18 months, bolstered by accelerating consumer’s digital behaviour due to the global pandemic. Fatberry’s digital insurance platform which they describe as “vibrant and user-friendly” receives over 200,000 monthly visits in search of its comprehensive range of insurance products.

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