Payments

China’s Fastest Growing Fintech Startup, iPayLinks Debuts in Malaysia

									by Fintech News Malaysia
July 5, 2017
1 comment

During the launch of the 9th BankTech Asia at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, iPayLinks’ SEA Regional Head, Tang Wai Zhuan announced the group’s strategic decision to expand into the Southeast Asia’s market, with Malaysia being the maiden market and ASEAN headquarter.
“For the next five years, Southeast Asia is our key focus and we will focus on Malaysia’s market before expanding to other Southeast Asia countries like Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand.” said Tang in his opening speech during the launch of the 9th BankTech Asia.
He added, “We’re committed to share mature commercialization strategies with Malaysian Financial Institutions, based on our past experience and success cases in China. We are optimistic in translating the same success we achieved in China within the Malaysian market.”

Established in 2015 in Shanghai, iPayLinks is a global Cross-Border Fintech service provider. The company is primarily involved with payment settlement solutions, mobile payments solutions, and development of e-payment technology for cross-border and domestic companies in e-commerce, travel and digital entertainment industries.
In the short span of 2 years since its inception, iPayLinks has undergone staggering growth. In China, iPayLinks is the second largest payment provider for VISA with monthly transactions value of over USD 100 million. Currently, iPayLinks has over 100 payment channels (Visa, Mastercard, Alipay, Wechat Pay etc.) in over 200 countries across the world and servicing blue chip customers such as Ctrip, Allianz and others.
Tang added that with these assets and networks, iPayLinks is confident that they can play a key role towards transforming Malaysia and subsequently other SouthEast Asia countries into cashless societies.
In a vote of confidence, regional private equity firm with headquarter in Malaysia, Kairous Capital has invested in iPaylinks. Mr Joseph Lee, Managing Partner, Kairous Capital, stated in the press conference that they are fully behind iPayLinks’s strategic plan and is committed to not only being iPayLinks’s investor but also their ASEAN expansion partner.
“In the last 6 months, iPayLinks and Kairous Capital has been in talks with the local banks, large merchants and strategic partners regarding our unique solution and through these talks we learnt that our services are indeed mission critical for the ASEAN market.  iPayLinks has the capability to fulfil these needs from its readily available technology. Therefore, we are very confident towards iPayLinks’s venture into the Southeast Asia markets.” Lee added.
This is iPayLinks’ first public statement of their corporate objectives, which was announced at the 9th BankTech Asia, an annual gathering of banking technology and fintech professionals alike.

This article was first published on fintechnews.sg

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Lending

Fundaztic to fill the RM80 Billion Funding Gap to SMEs: Malaysian P2P Lending Platform

									by Fintech News Malaysia
September 13, 2017
0 comments

Fundaztic.com made its debut on the peer-to-peer (P2P) financing platform  with a low entry barrier investment of RM50 (12USD), and is now expecting to draw investors to fund more than 500 micro and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and startups within the first year of operations to reach a funding goal of RM40 million.
Fundaztic.com went ‘live’ exactly two months ago on July 7th 2017, by hosting five investment notes for SMEs and startups with total funding amounting RM530,000. The first issuer hosted, reached its funding target of RM20,000 through investments from a total of 37 investors within the first four hours of being “hosted” on the platform. .
Fundaztic which is a fintech (financial technology) start-up, is one of the six P2P financial platforms that is licensed as a Recognised Market Operator (P2P Financing) by the Securities Commission of Malaysia.

Malaysia is the first country in ASEAN to come up with full regulatory framework and guidelines to regulate this promising alternative funding and investment platform.
From left to right: Gary Tan, Director of Peoplender Sdn. Bhd., Kristine Ng, Chief Executive Officer of Peoplender Sdn. Bhd., Jeffrey Chew, Chairman of Peoplender Sdn. Bhd., and Michael Ooi, Director of Peoplender Sdn. Bhd. upon the successful launch of Fundaztic.com – a P2P platform

Fundaztic is founded by a group of prominent ex-bankers and a lawyer. It is a company with a paid-up capital of RM5 million and other shareholders include Mezzanine Ventures Sdn Bhd which is held 100% by Amcorp Capital Markets Sdn Bhd, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Amcorp Group Berhad and Dato’ Teo Chiang Quan in his personal capacity.
As of end August 2017, Fundaztic hosted 14 investment notes on its website, with a total funding campaign of RM1.7million and have disbursed RM720,000 towards the eight investment notes which have been fully funded. Two new notes were “hosted” today and currently, in total, there are five notes which are in the fundraising process.

Kristine Ng
“Fundaztic is not just a functional platform but also one with an array of unique propositions that would propel the platform towards market leadership and dominance,”
said Kristine Ng, Chief Executive Officer of Peoplender Sdn Bhd which manages Fundaztic.
“Our idea is to be unique and different from the other P2P financing sites in the world. For starters, we do not collect deposits upfront from our investors. We even allow everyone to browse for free and explore as much as they want before deciding on their investments,”
she further added.
Fundaztic, as one of the pioneers in P2P financing, is currently working on further enhancements in user experience through the development of a mobile app as well as smart investment features.
It is also working towards strategic collaborations with local financial institutions and related agencies with SMEs developmental agenda to help resolve the financial gap and access to financing faced especially by the micro businesses and start-ups.
Speaking at the official launch of Fundaztic.com, Mr. Jeffrey Chew, Chairman of Peoplender Sdn Bhd said,

Jeffrey Chew
“Fundaztic is a new channel that connects smart investors to SMEs and startups directly, thus generating superior return on their investment and leveraging on technology”added Mr Chew.
The platform is designed to be investor friendly, equipped with the simplest and easiest process of tracking one’s investment performance online at anytime and anywhere just by logging in to Fundaztic.com, even at a convenience of smart phones and other mobile devices.
Investors are able to begin the application process by signing up and logging onto the website. Investing via Fundaztic.com is very much like online shopping with the concept of selecting desired notes, entering a desired investment amount and then adding to cart, checking, and finally proceed to payment using FPX (financial process exchange).
Investors would receive the first month’s repayments immediately upon disbursement of a successfully funded note thereby “guaranteeing” that they would not lose everything despite risks involved in the investment.

This article was first published on fintechnews.sg

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Payments

BNM Approves Sarawak Pay: Sarawak to Roll Out Payments System

									by Vincent Fong
October 16, 2017
2 comments

Approval from Bank Negara Malaysia for Sarawak Pay was obtained last week , further to the approval the Sarawak Government would see the system implemented at state government departments and agencies next year.
The system would allow for payments for all local government services such as property assessment rates and land rent.
Image Credit: www.dayakdaily.com
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said that pilot projects will be launched in Kuching prior to being implemented state-wide.

In an earlier statement the Chief Minister also stated that this will enable Sarawak to have e-wallet or e-pay which can be linked to our neighbours like Indonesia, Thailand and of course China (Alipay).
This news comes after the Sarawak Government’s announcement of working with Huawei for Sarawak Pay earlier this April.

This article was first published on fintechnews.sg

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Payments

Malaysian Fintech Firm Soft Space Launches My FamiPay in Taiwan

									by Vincent Fong
October 17, 2017
0 comments

Partnering with Cathay United Bank (CUB), Soft Space introduces an innovative way to make payments that is set to empower FamilyMart Taiwan called “My FamiPay”. The application integrates and binds debit/prepaid/credit cards and other various stored value cards for in-store purchases and utility bill payments to enable seamless loyalty points collection for their consumers with just a click of a button.
According to eMarketer, Taiwan is the most mobile country in the world with 73.4% of Taiwan’s population uses smartphones. Soft Space saw an opportunity to undertake Taiwan’s digital payment market as it has the highest smartphone penetration in the world.
With the collaboration from CUB that has a total of 6 million card holders in Taiwan and FamilyMart’s 3.6 million registered members across 3,100 outlets in the country, this opens up opportunities to increase both of their customer base by 20% by the end of the year.

By using Soft Space’s e-wallet, CUB can offer tailored financial and digital services while managing risk effectively whereas, FamilyMart Taiwan’s members can benefit from CUB’s extensive clients list. In today technological era, data is important. Hence, Soft Space plans to offer analysis services for FamilyMart Taiwan and CUB to embark on big data analytics.
Image Credit: Soft Space
The relaunch of “My FamiPay” is an enhancement of the previous version as it ameliorates better customer experience by providing a more comprehensive payment service. The mobile application connects to various cards in order for users to earn reward points that they can use to redeem or to make payments at the counter. Furthermore, it accepts transactions to be made from over 21 non-cash payment providers by scanning the barcode on the application.
Image Credit: Soft Space
The second phase of “My FamiPay” mobile application is to support Online-to-Offline (O2O) delivery and pick-up service that allows customers to collect their purchased items at any FamilyMart convenient store in Taiwan. This method will benefit brick-and-mortar retail outlets as it can include them in the e-commerce trend that will ultimately increase their sales and growth. The application will support pre-order purchases that will offer exclusive FamilyMart promotions for their customers. Moreover, the “My FamiPay” app will soon be a 3rd party payment processor that allows business owners to accept money online seamlessly.
Soft Space is one of the leading Fintech player in Malaysia and is one of the major MPOS provider in the region that aims to transform the payment industry. The company launched the Digital Payment Hub in Taiwan – a payment platform consists of blockchain technologies, MPOS and e-wallet. It allows merchants to securely accepts payment methods from physical cards and mobile payments like AliPay, TenPay, and SamsungPay.
“Ubiquinomics is the new trend of retail spending behavior, the effective consolidation between virtual and retail shopping and providing a seamless experience to our consumers would be the next key agenda for FamilyMart in the upcoming phase.” said Jung Ting Yeh, Chairmain & CEO of FamilyMart Taiwan.
“We are excited to be able to introduce Soft Space’s payment hub solutions to FamilyMart Taiwan by partnering with Cathay United Bank and we plan to integrate the same approach to our own e-wallet soon in Malaysia so stay tuned!” said Joel Tay, CEO of Soft Space.

This article was first published on fintechnews.sg

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Malaysia
Payments

Malaysia’s Fintech Sandbox Partcipant MoneyMatch Launches Transfer Portal

									by Vincent Fong
October 30, 2017
0 comments

MoneyMatch Sdn Bhd, a home-grown company approved by Bank Negara Malaysia, launched its “Transfer” portal, a fully digital cross border remittance service offering exchange rates and fees far cheaper than incumbent banks.
The Transfer portal allows users to conduct their entire transactions online via the MoneyMatch mobile app and the web platform.
It also features a one-time online customer verification also known as an “eKYC” or electronic know your customer feature.

The combination of these elements allows MoneyMatch to provide a complete and fully digital end to end experience for the consumer.
Image Credit: WatchTower and Friends
Adrian Yap, the CEO of MoneyMatch said: “Combined with our proprietary straight through processing, MoneyMatch is able to execute cross border transactions at a faster speed and provide significant cost savings to our customers. Over the past few months, the Transfer portal has been open to select users who have conducted transactions worth over a few million ringgit already to over a dozen countries overseas.”
Yap, a former banker who built his career in Financial Markets, added that Transfer is aimed at revolutionizing how consumers and corporate customers perform cross border payments.
Yap said: “Our primary markets are the small and micro SMEs who tend to be under-served by traditional financial institutions and parents who send their children overseas for education.”
Yap added that the savings Transfer can bring to these groups will be significant.
“Larger corporations tend to be in the best position to negotiate for better rates from their banks. Smaller customers rarely have that privilege and that’s where MoneyMatch comes in”.
MoneyMatch will soon be launching more innovative products in the financial technology or FinTech space.
Money Match Exchange Launches
It’s next product called “Exchange” is expected to be launched in end November, will allow users to conduct peer to peer currency exchanges.
It aims to revolutionize currency exchange by three key ways. One by facilitating users to match their currency exchange needs on a legitimate digital portal; secondly and more importantly it allows users to exchange their currencies at the ‘mid-rate’ which is the rate at the centre of the exchange spread seen at banks and money changers; and thirdly is the ability to exchange currencies at various pre-determined locations.
“The whole point of FinTech is to weed out inefficiencies for the benefit of consumers. We are using available technology to enable users to exchange their currencies minus unnecessary costs. More importantly, we are doing this under the approval of the central bank,” said Naysan Munusamy, co-founder of MoneyMatch.
He added: “Exchange is potentially the first regulated peer to peer currency exchange model in the world. We have been quiet about it as we work out the nitty gritty details to ensure a high level of safety and security to users. We feel it will be a game changer in the industry.”
MoneyMatch will charge a transparent flat fee for transactions.
This article was first published on fintechnews.sg

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Regtech/Regulation

Bank Negara Malaysia Approves 3 More Participants for Fintech Sandbox

									by Vincent Fong
October 30, 2017
0 comments

Bank Negara Malaysia has approved 3 more participants to its Fintech Sandbox. This news follows their official announcement earlier in May for the first batch of approved participants of the Bank Negara Malaysia Fintech Sandbox which includes GoBear Ltd, GetCover Sdn Bhd, MoneyMatch Sdn Bhd, and World Remit
According to the website of Bank Negara Malaysia’s Fintech Enablement group the testing period will be for 12 months starting from 20th October. Comparing to the previous list of approved participants which primarily in the financial aggregrator and remittance space, the new list introduces a e-KYC element to it. The introduction of e-KYC to the fintech sandbox and the upcoming e-KYC standards by year’s at hints at Bank Negara Malaysia’s increased focused towards e-KYC.
The approved participant includes:

Jinerxu
Jirnexu enables banks, insurance companies and service providers to think mobile-first and acquire customers online, handle their fulfilment, keep them loyal and extract lifetime value. Founded in 2012 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the company is a full stack fintech solutions provider. Jirnexu’s partners include RHB, Maybank, Citibank, HSBC, Alliance Bank, Standard Chartered, CIMB, BSN, Public Bank, UOB, AEON, AmBank, UforLife, Manulife, Allianz, Zurich, Etiqa, and RHB Insurance. Jinerxu recently secured $2 Million Funding in their Pre-Series B round.
CIMB Bank & Paycasso
Paycasso delivers a global customer identification platform, serving customers from the Financial Services and Healthcare vertical. Paycasso is headquarted in UK and according their website has no physical presence in Malaysia as of yet.
CIMB Bank is Malaysia’s second largest bank with 7.5 million customers Malaysia . The group employs over 40,000 employees across the ASEAN region. Earlier this year CIMB Bank appointed Olivier Crespin as its Chief Fintech Officer

The inclusion of more companies in the Bank Negara Malaysia Fintech Sandbox points towards a healthy development in the Malaysian Fintech landscape.

This article was first published on fintechnews.sg

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Blockchain/Bitcoin

Malaysia Central Bank Publishes Study about Cryptocurrencies

									by Fintech News Malaysia
November 1, 2017
0 comments

A study published by Bank Negara Malaysia in September explores the implications of a Bank Negara Malaysia cryptocurrency or as the report calls it; a central bank backed digital currency. A central bank digital currency (CBDC), if introduced, is unlikely to replace cash transactions any time soon. Instead, it should be a complement to cash and bank deposit.

Image Credit: Bank Negara Malaysia – Central Bank Digital Currency: A Monetary Policy Perspective
According to the study, the key innovation with CBDC is the ability for individuals and firms to hold direct accounts with the central banks and to transact directly with one another using the digital currency as a legal tender.

“This has been made possible by the technology used in private digital currencies, namely the distributed ledger technology (DLT),” the document says.
With the rising interest in and usage of “private digital currencies” like Bitcoin, central banks around the world have been wondering whether they should consider issuing digital currencies themselves. And in this field, countries like the US, China, and Sweden have shown interest in the concept and experimentations in Canada and Singapore have been focusing on improving the efficiency of the wholesale payments and settlements system.
Image Credit: Bank Negara Malaysia – Central Bank Digital Currency: A Monetary Policy Perspective
By leveraging blockchain technology, CBDC could to unlock central banks’ ability to capture rapid, real time economic surveillance, the report says. But while the potential impact to the transmission of monetary policy is recognized, the full extent of CBDC is unclear and research is still nascent. In addition to that the report does not indicate any plans to introduce a Bank Negara Malaysia Cyrptocurrency or Digital Currency.
The paper comes as at a time when the Malaysian central bank is looking to regulate cryptocurrencies.
Bank Negara governor Tan Sri Muhammad Ibrahim said earlier this month that the central bank would make a decision by the end of the year on whether or not cryptocurrencies would be considered a legal investment scheme in Malaysia.
Muhammad said that if Bank Negara decided to recognize cryptocurrencies, then guidelines would be issued on Malaysia’s approach towards investing in it.
“The guidelines that we will be issuing before the end of the year will address issues in terms of registering the players, collecting data and ensuring that whatever they do will be transparent,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the 9th International Conference on Financial Crime and Terrorism Financing (ICFCT).
The central bank last commented on cryptocurrencies more than three years ago when a statement was issued in early 2014 stating that Bitcoin was not recognized as legal tender in Malaysia and that it did not regulate activities involving cryptocurrencies.
Since then, cryptocurrencies have surged in popularity and attracted much attention internationally.
While Malaysia is weighing in on the decision, other jurisdictions including China and South Korea are cracking down on cryptocurrencies. In September, China banned initial coin offerings (ICOs) and ordered the closure of cryptocurrency exchanges.
Shortly after, South Korea’s financial regulator said it too will ban ICOs, stating that trading of digital currencies needs to be tightly controlled and monitored.

This article was first published on fintechnews.sg, Featured image: Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, Pixabay.

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Lending

Will This Partnership Drive Malaysian SMEs’ Adoption of P2P Loans?

									by Vincent Fong
November 3, 2017
0 comments

Funding Societies and Cheng & Co have engaged in a strategic partnership to broaden and simplify access to business financing for creditworthy Malaysian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Cheng & Co, a  established home-grown accounting firm, will refer promising SMEs in need of financing to Funding Societies, a  (P2P) financing platform in the country. In turn, Funding Societies will provide working capital to eligible SMEs through its investor base.
The arrangement is subject to SME customers’ consent and is the first partnership between a P2P financing platform with an accounting firm in Malaysia.
P2P financing platforms such as Funding Societies connect SMEs with investors through an online marketplace, thereby increasing access to financing for the SME sector. By investing into SMEs, investors could earn returns up to 14% per year, higher than fixed deposits, bonds, and other traditional instruments. Meanwhile, SMEs could obtain up to RM500,000 in working capital financing to expand their business through a fast and simple online-based process. SMEs do not need to provide collateral as part of the financing requirements, while interest costs are minimized due to short financing tenors.

According to estimates cited by the Securities Commission, the Malaysian SME sector has a financing gap of more than RM 80 billion. Market-based financing like Funding Societies, may provide alternative solutions to address the financing needs of Malaysian SMEs.
Tom Wong, CEO of Cheng & Co Group,said: “P2P financing is gaining popularity as an alternative finance option for SMEs. Malaysia even became the first country in ASEAN to regulate P2P financing in November 2016. We believe our partnership with Funding Societies will help our creditworthy clients raise working capital financing for business growth. The collaboration aligns with Cheng & Co’s mission to provide innovative and value-added solutions for our customers on top of our auditing and financial advisory services.”
Cheng & Co will organize seminars throughout Malaysia together with Funding Societies to educate SMEs on alternative funding options to bridge cash flow gap and Cheng & Co’s business assurance services.
Mr. Wong Kah Meng, CEO of Funding Societies Malaysia,stated: “One of the main challenges SMEs face when applying for financing is lack of up-to-date and comprehensive financial statements, thereby delaying the application and approval process. Our partnership with Cheng & Co would help address this pain point and in turn would free SMEs to focus on what’s most important: running and expanding their business. Additionally, the partnership will help us improve customer experience and shorten approval time when applying for financing with the company This provides more SME investment opportunities for our investors and the ability for investors to utilize their funds and diversify their investment portfolio. Funding Societies aims towards a two-week time frame between application to disbursement of SME financing.”
Funding Societies is a P2P financing platform in Southeast Asia. The platform also has operations in Singapore and in Indonesia (under the name Modalku). Regionally, Funding Societies has disbursed more than RM240 million across more than 1,270 deals. Funding Societies is one of six P2P financing operators recognized and regulated by Securities Commission (SC) Malaysia.
This article was first published on fintechnews.sg

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


E-Wallets
Payments

Malaysia Mobile Wallets Space Heats Up: Axiata’s Boost Partners with UTM

									by Vincent Fong
November 3, 2017
0 comments

Boost, an app based mobile wallet developed by Axiata Digital, announced their partnership with Universiti Teknologi Malaysia to create a “Cashless Campus” in Malaysia. This partnership could potentially enable 25,000 students and faculty members across UTM Kuala Lumpur and Skudai campuses to use the mobile wallet.

Christopher Tiffin, CEO of Boost added that,“Backed by Axiata’s vast expertise in digital technology across Asia, Boost is at the frontier of the digital economy and one of the fastest growing mobile wallets in the market. Our partnership with UTM signifies more than just a venture, it also represents a new and exciting way for Malaysians to move forward in the digital world. We believe this is only the beginning of an exciting journey as we look to form more strategic partnerships in the future to educate and instil trust in consumers on the reliability, safety and security of e-wallet applications,”

Aside from the partnership Boost’s partnership with UTM, Boost users can pay for purchases at selected merchants at both physical outlets as well as online merchants. Currently no sources can be found indicating specifically where Boost digital wallet can be used for payments.
This article was first published on fintechnews.sg

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Blockchain/Bitcoin

Securities Commission Malaysia Embarks on Blockchain Pilot Project

									by Vincent Fong
November 6, 2017
5 comments

Tan Sri Ranjit Singh, Chairman of Securities Commission of Malaysia announced today at the SCxSC Digital Finance Conference 2017 today that the regulator has embarked on a pilot project for distributed ledgers in the unlisted and OTC Market space.
The technology will be deployed to provide more clarity to the OTC and unlisted market space which is largely considered to be opaque due to the lack of information available.

“By using distributed ledger as a technology underpinning the market infrastructure, all transactions and market activities would be recorded and made available to all market participants while maintaining transaction confidentiality” Tan Sri Ranjit Singh added during his opening remark.

The findings from this pilot project will be published as an industry blueprint. This blueprint will elaborate upon the technology architecture, key software functions and development standards which will form the building blocks for interested parties to use blockchain network for unlisted and OTC markets.
This pilot project is done through the aFINity Innovation lab which is an initiative facilitated by the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) to catalyse greater interest towards the development of emerging technology-driven innovations in financial services.
Tan Sri Ranjit Singh also mentioned during the press conference that Securities Commission will be working very closely with Bank Negara Malaysia in developing a framework for blockchain and cryptocurrency which includes regulations and guidelines to facilitate secondary market trading of established cryptocurrency and digital assets. The framework is slated to be released in the next few months.
When reached for comment on ICOs the regulator maintained that they continue to stand by their earlier public warning statement on ICO in September and encourage investors to fully understand the underlying risk of investing in ICOs. He later added that they are still closely monitoring the space and that the Securities Commission is now a part of the International Organization of Securities Commisions ICO Consultation network, where regulators are discussing the latest development in this space.
This article was first published on fintechnews.sg

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


WealthTech

Robo Advisors to Land on Malaysian Shores in 2018

									by Vincent Fong
November 6, 2017
3 comments

In a press conference today at the sidelines of the SCxSC Digital Finance Conference 2017, Tan Sri Ranjit Singh the Chairman of the Securities Commission of Malaysia announced that the first licenses for the Digital Investment Framework Management will be issued in mid 2018 paving the way for the introduction of robo-advisors to the Malaysian market.
The Digital Investment Management Framework was launched by the Securities Commission of Malaysia in May 2017 and it is said to be the first in the region to launch a regulatory framework of this nature. According to Tan Sri Ranjit Singh, since the launch of the framework they have received strong interest from both incumbent and startups.
The introduction of this framework is in line with Securities Commission’s goal of democratizing access of investment products to the general public.

“Once of the core needs of millennial investors is the need for regular savings, even in small amounts, to be channeled towards investing for the future” said Tan Sri Ranjit Singh.

Securities Commission has also announced that they will be working towards expanding the Digital Investment Management Framework to introduced the concept of “Spare Change Investments” similar to what is being offered micro-investment platform Acorns who was also present at the event as well.
This article was first published on fintechnews.sg, Image Credit: Pixabay

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Payments

Paynet: Real-Time P2P Payments with Your NRIC in 2018

									by Vincent Fong
November 13, 2017
2 comments

ACI Worldwide, a global provider of real-time electronic payment and banking solutions, today announced that Payments Network Malaysia (PayNet), the national financial market infrastructure provider, will build Malaysia’s Real-time Retail Payments Platform (RPP) using ACI’s UP Immediate Payments solution.
RPP is PayNet’s strategic initiative to modernize Malaysia’s retail payments infrastructure, drive innovation in electronics payments and bring the benefits of immediate payments to all participants in the payments ecosystem, including banks, payment institutions, businesses, consumers and the government.
In 2017, PayNet has developed the Core RPP infrastructure while 2018 will see the launch of Instant Credits, Request-to-Pay for e commerce and person-to-person (P2P) Payments with Proxy Address Resolution. This will allow payments to be addressed seamlessly by mobile numbers, National Registration Identity Card (NRIC) numbers, or business registration numbers.

“ACI’s UP Immediate Payments provides the flexibility and agility that PayNet needs to continue innovating and improving the value proposition of electronic payments. Our ability to rapidly bring to market the payment products of the future is essential to keep abreast with the fast pace of change in the e-Payments market,”
said Mr Peter Schiesser, Group CEO, PayNet.
Tasked with developing Malaysia’s payments ecosystem, PayNet is a result of the merger of Bank Negara Malaysia’s (Central Bank of Malaysia) wholly-owned subsidiary, Malaysian Electronic Clearing Corporation (MyClear), with Malaysian Electronic Payment System (MEPS), in August 2017.

This article was first published on fintechnews.sg, Featured image via Pixabay

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


E-Wallets
Payments

BNM Greenlights TNG Digital: Touch ‘n Go and AliPay’s Joint Venture

									by Vincent Fong
November 14, 2017
4 comments

TNG Digital Sdn Berhad a new entity jointly formed by CIMB Bank’s subsidiarity, Touch ‘n Go and Alipay has received green light from Bank Negara Malaysia. The new entity will consist of Touch ‘n Go’ as the majority shareholder and Alipay will participate as the minority shareholder. The capital injected by both parties will go towards the creation of an online and offline payments provider
This news follows their earlier announcement to jointly roll out mobile payments by June 2018, further cementing the group’s cashless ambition. The combination of Touch ‘n Go’s userbase as the national public transport payments card, CIMB’s leverage as the second largest bank in Malaysia and Alipay’s success in rolling out cashless payments in China makes for a force to be reckoned with.
While AliPay’s play still is largely catered to Chinese tourist at this juncture, it is likely that once TNG Digital rolls out its mobile payments system, it will be made available to the general public.

This article was first published on fintechnews.sg

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Blockchain/Bitcoin
WealthTech

Malaysia’s HelloGold Wins “Most Innovative Islamic Product Award”

									by Fintech News Malaysia
November 16, 2017
0 comments

HelloGold, a Malaysian based fintech firm that blends gold trading with blockchain technologies was announced as the winner of the the Critics’ Choice Most Innovative Islamic Retail Product Award. Organised by the UK-based financial intelligence house, Cambridge IF Analytica, the award recognised the platform’s features, which include being the world’s first Shariah-compliant certified online digital gold platform.

Robin Lee, CEO, commented,

“HelloGold was created to make gold and other sophisticated financial products affordable and available to everyone. We are proud that our achievements are being recognised. But, this is just the beginning – in the last two months, the HelloGold Foundation closed its public token sale and launched the first fully-operational and 100% audited gold-backed token (GBT) in the world.

With its initial launch in Malaysia, HelloGold provides an app-based platform that allows customers to buy, store, and sell physical investment-grade gold with as little as RM1. Since its launch in April 2017, the app already numbers 15,000 downloads in Malaysia. The company is backed by TheFinLab, a joint-venture between UOB Bank and SGInnovate, a wholly-owned arm of the Singapore government.
This article was first published on fintechnews.sg, Featured image via HelloGold

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


E-Wallets
Payments

WeChat Pay Vs Alipay: Here’s Why Alipay Will Be a Clear Winner in Malaysia

									by Vincent Fong
November 22, 2017
3 comments

Geopolitical pressures to out-compete the Americans have driven China to exert its influence in South East Asia.
Chief among the beneficiary of this exercise is Malaysia. While many of these government to government initiatives are largely focused on infrastructure projects, we’ve seen many major initiatives from the fintech end of the divide. Most notably are TenCent’s WeChat Pay and Ant Financial’s AliPay foray into the Malaysia digital wallets space.
Their entrance into the Malaysian market is no triffling matter, together these two companies make up for 92% of the payments market in China. In this article, we intend to explore the initiatives of these Chinese giants and speculate who will likely emerge victorious.

Ant Financial – AliPay
Alipay was founded in 2004, and in a short span of 3 years from its founding it has secured over 50 million users. At the time of writing, AliPay claims to have over 520 million users across the region. AliPay accounts for 55% of the mobile payments market in China.
Entering Malaysia in early 2017, AliPay has announced its strategic partnership with the nation’s 3 largest banks, namely Maybank, CIMB Bank and Public Bank . In this arrangement the respective banks would act as the settlement and merchant acquirer bank which allows Chinese tourists to pay for things yuan without being concerned about exchange rates. Following that announcement AliPay entered into a series of strategic partnerships in Malaysia with the likes 7-Eleven, Starbucks, Malaysia Airports Berhad, GHL, MOLPay.

Even more notably, AliPay entered into an agreement with Malaysia largest widely used stored valued card for public transportation card, Touch ‘n Go to jointly launch a digital wallet. Their newly formed entity TNG Digital was recently given the green light by Bank Negara Malaysia to move forward.
As an affilliate company of Alibaba, AliPay also enjoys the strategic advantage of Jack Ma’s close relationship with the Malaysia Government as the Digital Economy Advisor of Malaysia.  In this capacity, Jack Ma and Prime Minister Najib jointly launched the Digital Free Trade Zone (DTFZ) which is slated to boost the nations e-commerce activities.
Image Credit: Tourism Malaysia
The DTFZ initiative will benefit e-commerce players in Malaysia like Lazada which incidentally, Alibaba has an 83% stake in. Lazada’s payment platform HelloPay was also acquired by the group and has since been rebranded to AliPay.
Tencent – WeChat Pay
Image Credit: Tencent
Best known for it social messaging app WeChat, Tencent is one of the largest tech conglomerates in China, it is reported that Tencent has surpassed Facebook in value. The company claims to have over 600 million users on WeChat Pay and QQ Pay. Its social messaging app WeChat boasts an impressive number of over 900 million daily active users second only to WhatsApp. In terms of the mobile payments market, Tencent commands 37% of of the mobile payments market in China.
Image Credit: Flickr SinChen.lin
While the Alipay still captures the lion share of the market in China, it is important to note that as of 2014 AliPay had 80% of the market, that is until 2014, when WeChat Pay launched its virtual “HongBao”  which are red packets with money filled inside, it that is traditionally given out during Chinese New Year. Within the same month of its launch, WeChat Pay saw its user base grow from 30 Million to 100 million. Jack Ma likened the incident to a “Pearl Harbor” attack on AliPay.
The company claims to have 20 million active users in Malaysia’s population of 31 millions citizens. In July the company applied for an e-money license with Bank Negara Malaysia and has recently seen the regulator granting Tencent the license to operate. The company expects the services to go live sometime in 2018, therefore much of it’s game plan it not made available yet.
Who Will Win?
While from all aspects it would appear that Alipay reigns supreme in the Malaysia digital wallets space, we should not underestimate the power of WeChat’s user base and we must also be alert to the fact that the battle in China between the two giants is a far from over and WeChat is quickly becoming a strong contender with the potential to dethrone Alipay in China. While the outcome remains to be seen, the verdict for the likely winner goes to Alipay until more information is made available on WeChat Pay’s game plan in Malaysia.
This article was first published on fintechnews.sg, Featured image: Mobile payments by LDprod, via Shutterstock.com.

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Payments

Singaporean Fintech Firm, InstaReM Expands Remittance Services to Malaysia

									by Vincent Fong
November 28, 2017
0 comments

InstaReM secured approval under theMoney Services Licensed Business from Bank Negara Malaysia, it is eyeing aggressive expansion following its recent Series B Funding.

Headquartered in Singapore, InstaReM is a digital cross border payments company has announced its expansion into Malaysia at its launch press conference today. The company holds licenses in 8 markets and covering over 40 countries reaching 60 countries across the globe. The company took the route of securing approval under the Money Services Business License compared to its Malaysian counterpart MoneyMatch which secured approval under the Fintech Regulatory Sandbox by Bank Negara Malaysia. Prior to this, the company also secured E-Money License with the Lithunian regulators.
In July 2017, the company received a Series-B funding of USD$13 Million investment, InstaReM seeks to use a portion of the  fund to expand to the Malaysian market. The company claims that it is able to transfer funds in Asia within Asia in less than 24 hours compared to the 2 to 4 days average of banks. Pratik attributed it to SWIFT’s fairly antiquated system which contributes to the high costs and slow speed in processing the payments.
Pratik Gandhi, Chief Business Officer, InstaReM
During the launch Pratik Gandhi, Chief Business Officer InstaRem said “InstaReM hopes to collaborate closely with consumers and financial institution to offer the best product solutions to its customers in Malaysia and across the world, we want to drive the adoption rate of technological innovations across both businesses and individual consumers”
In the immediate horizon after Malaysia, InstaReM plans to further expand their footprint US, Europe and India. Pratik also hinted at launching a digital only bank that caters to both individuals and corporates in Europe sometime in 2017.

This article was first published on fintechnews.sg

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


ICOs in Malaysia: An Overview

Blockchain/Bitcoin

ICOs in Malaysia: An Overview

									by Vincent Fong
December 5, 2017
1 comment

ICOs are becoming all the rage these days, with startups from around the globe adopting it as a method of fundraising.
In Asia this is especially true for Singapore who recently emerged as the third largest ICO hub in the world and the largest in Asia.
How is Malaysia faring compared to its neighbour down south? We spoke Bobby Ong, co-founder of CoinGecko, a Malaysian based cryptocurrency data analytics & research platform that recently expanded its services to tracking ICOs, commenting on the ICOs in Malaysia Bobby said,

Bobby Ong, Co-Founder, CoinGecko
“There are a lot of interest among investors to participate in ICOs. However, I would express investors to be cautious and to do their due diligence as there are many questionable / scam ICOs.
Many of these investors are new to the cryptocurrency space and do not yet own any bitcoin or ether. If you do not yet own any cryptocurrencies, generally it is a bad idea to participate in ICOs as there are a lot of background knowledge required such as learning how to store your tokens safely.”

ICOs in Malaysia
When asked about the ICO activities in Malaysia, Bobby said there are roughly three that happened recently and there are several other questionable ones excluded from the list. Though he cautioned some of the ICOs brought up are within the gray areas of the law and while there are some promising ones, it should not be construed as an endorsement or investment advice.
HelloGold
HelloGold is known for having built a Shariah-compliant gold digital application that enables investors to buy, sell and hold gold online more conveniently for as little as MYR 1 (0.25 USD).  The ICO was launched in August and raised approximately 4 Million USD.

Ecobit
Ecobit claims to be a Green Blockchain Project with the goal of preventing climate change. Ecobit is built on top of the NEM (New Economic Movement)  platform. Ecobit is not without its controvesy, in June 2017, Bank Negara Malaysia added Ecobit into its Financial Consumer Alert list which tracks entities which are neither authorised nor approved by the regulator. Historically companies under this list have been subject to raids and eventually having their assets frozen.
Lending Star
Lending Star claims to be the first invoice exchange marketplace built on the blockchain. Invoices bought from alternative finance marketplaces around the world will be traded on this secondary exchange. It allows trading in fiat and cryptocurrency, including bitcoins and ethers, and is due for public release in late 2018. It is also worth nothing that Lending Star is operating within a regulated space without prior approval.
ICO Regulation in Malaysia
At the time of writing there are no clear guidelines or regulations around ICOs in Malaysia, both Bank Negara Malaysia and Securities Commission Malaysia are working closely together to develop a regulatory guideline on both ICOs and cryptocurrencies. It is slated to be released sometime in 2018. In the meantime the regulator maintains their caution on investing in ICOs stating that the structure of these ICO schemes might limit the legal protection and recourse for investors against scheme operators.
Conclusion
The ICO landscape is still relatively nascent in Malaysia and riddled with many ICOs that are either questionable or straight-up scams. Lacking clear regulatory guidelines, Malaysian investors must abide by the caveat emptor principles for now.
Startups looking to raise funds through ICOs before the guideline is issued must also be able exhibit transparency and clearly communicate their offerings and progress lest they be associated with less than reputable company. We expect the scene to become more vibrant in 2018 once the guidelines are released.

This article was first published on fintechnews.sg

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Crowdfunding

The State of Equity Crowdfunding Malaysia

									by Vincent Fong
December 7, 2017
5 comments

Equity crowdfunding is a mechanism that enables the general public to invest in typically early stage businesses. In return for the investment the investors are typically given a small piece of equity in return (think Kickstarter but instead of rewards you get a small ownership in the company).
In Malaysia, the Equity Crowdfunding framework was first issued in 2015 by Securities Commission Malaysia and the country was considered the first in Asia Pacific to legislate it.
There is a mix of local and foreign market operators, all of which are incorporated in Malaysia, as required by the framework. Through this platform startups (issuers) are allowed to raise 5 Million MYR (1.2 Million USD approx)

Equity Crowdfunding Malaysia Approved Operators

The Malaysian Equity Crowdfunding scene has enjoyed relative success, we’ve observed some notable fund raising with largest being The Parenthood, raising a whooping RM 2.6 Million through Crowdo. BabyDash is a close second having raised RM 2.5 Million through pitchIN. Overall the industry has seen 35 successful campaigns with 84% success rates and raised a grand total of RM 26 Million (6 Million USD)
Equity Crowdfunding Malaysia Key Statistics
Source: Securities Commission Malaysia
We’ve aggregated the publicly available data from the respective Equity Crowdfunding platforms, the data shows that of all the platforms that are currently operating in Malaysia, pitchIN is dominating the market with 45% market share all the funds raised so far. Eureeca has been omitted for the chart below as there is no data available on funds raised in Malaysia. It may not be too far fetched to draw the conclusion that no funds have been raised through Eureeca so far since majority of the players are very transparent about the funds raised.
Equity Crowdfunding Malaysia Market Share Breakdown

All in all the Malaysia Equity Crowdfunding scene looks healthy and poised for further growth in 2018.  The numbers indicates that Securities Commission Malaysia took the right step in regulating the Malaysia Equity Crowdfunding scene with both promotes access to capital for businesses and provides investment opportunities to the general public.
This article was first published on fintechnews.sg, Featured Image via: Pixabay and Unsplash

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Regtech/Regulation

Bank Negara Malaysia Releases e-KYC Guidelines for Remittance Companies

									by Vincent Fong
December 8, 2017
5 comments

Following the announcement by Deputy Governor Jessica Chew earlier this September, Bank Negara Malaysia has officially released the e-KYC guidelines which sets out the minimum requirements and standards that an approved remittance service provider must observe in implementing e-KYC.
The guideline came into effect on 30th November 2017.
KYC (Know-Your-Customer) is a process in which financial institutions are required to execute in order to authenticate a customer’s identity, which are typically done face to face, whereas e-KYC as the name suggests, is a method that relies on digital technologies to perform the same task in a more seamless manner.

The introduction of this guideline is part of Bank Negara Malaysia’s continuous efforts to use digitalisation of remittance to promote the use of formal channels as well as lower the costs of remittance services.
Under this framework remittance provider are permitted to verify a customer’s identity via video calls, selfies and social media on top of the databases maintained by the National Registration Department, telecommunication companies and sanctions lists issued by credible sources.
With the guideline firmly in place, the need for customers to physically show up has been removed from the equation.
More information on the guideline can be found here.

This article was first published on fintechnews.sg

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Insurtech

Malaysian Insurtech Company Fatberry Launches Digital Marketplace

									by Vincent Fong
December 8, 2017
1 comment

Malaysia’s insurtech company, FatBerry.com launched a digital marketplace for insurance providing Malaysians with a way to get insured in two minutes. In conjunction with the launch, FatBerry.com also announced its partnership with Tune Protect Malaysia, the an online retail portal of the General Insurance market in Malaysia.
Fatberry.com is an Insurtech start-up which encourages and helps users in finding and purchasing the best-fit insurance online through a fast and intuitive chatbot-like interface.

During the launch, Priscilla Lim, CEO, Fatberry commented, “FatBerry believes in empowering end-to-end consumers to make effective decisions, by providing this platform of convenience that helps consumer to save time and money”
The partnership defines FatBerry’s and TuneProtect’s mission to empower consumers by providing an innovative digital purchase platform for insurance in this increasingly tech-savvy world.  The collaboration will kick start with Tune Protect’s personalised general insurance products offered on Fatberry.com – namely Motor Insurance, Travel Insurance and PA Insurance.
“Our partnership will provide consumers with an easy-to-use online tool to understand and find the right insurance. FatBerry’s technology platform is truly innovative, fast and user-friendly” said General Manager of the Region Representative of Tune Protect Malaysia, Mr Choo Hock Soon.
With the detariffication of the insurance industry in Malaysia since July 2017, FatBerry believes in providing transparency and options to consumers via its online interface that can help consumers make informed decisions. The simple to navigate consumer dashboard also enables consumers to retrieve their quote and policies online easily.

This article was first published on fintechnews.sg

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


E-Wallets
Payments

E-Money License Granted: Grab Malaysia “Grabs” a Piece of the Payments Pie

									by Vincent Fong
December 8, 2017
6 comments

Southeast Asia’s leading ride-hailing app Grab has obtained regulatory approval from Bank Negara Malaysia to launch its mobile payment service in Malaysia following it’s earlier approval from the Singaporean authorities. This move is mirrored by it’s Indonesian counterpart Go-Jek who is also making a foray into the payments market.
GrabPay will be rolled out in stages to Malaysian consumers and SMEs from the beginning of 2018.
Jason Thompson, managing director of GrabPay says: “Cash is still the most important payment method for many Malaysian SMEs and middle-class consumers, despite most adults having a deposit account. As one of the region’s most frequently used consumer apps with 72 million downloads, we are happy to work with Bank Negara to drive mass adoption of mobile payments in Malaysia and across Southeast Asia.”

Grab’s ambitions to be a serious payments contender was no secret with its recent move to hire Paytm’s former Senior Vice President for Engineering and it’s recent partnership with TransferTo

This article was first published on fintechnews.sg, Featured Image: Modified from GrabPH Facebook

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Blockchain/Bitcoin

Behind The Scenes: Securities Commission Malaysia’s Blockchain Project

									by Vincent Fong
December 14, 2017
1 comment

In November 2017, Securities Commission Malaysia announced that it will be embarking on a blockchain pilot project for the OTC markets. OTC is short for “over-the-counter” which are typically reserved for companies do not meet the listing requirements. It is also commonly known as unlisted stocks where these securities are traditionally traded by brokers.
During the the SCxSC conference Tan Sri Ranjit Singh, Chairman, Securities Commission Malaysia commented, “By using distributed ledger as a technology underpinning the market infrastructure, all transactions and market activities would be recorded and made available to all market participants while maintaining transaction confidentiality”
In efforts to better understand the nature and the scope of the project we spoke to the team at Neuroware a Malaysian blockchain startup who is the sole technical vendor behind this pilot project. The ideation of the project began when Neuroware was first invited to be part of the Security Commission Malaysia’s aFINity lab, an initiative by the regulator to catalyse fintech in Malaysia. The Neuroware team spent a year in that lab to research various national use cases for blockchain technology.

Commenting on the suitability of blockchain for OTC markets Ruben Tan, CTO, Neuroware said ” Blockchains are generally a good fit for any environment where there are trust and accountability concerns between independent or sovereign entities.”
He then added “Blockchain ecosystems eliminate this need to trust the words of others and can provide a standardised, neutral infrastructure for trades to be executed without the need for participants to trust each other implicitly. There are many secondary benefits that can also come from this new infrastructure, but these will mostly remain theoretical until implemented at scale.”
The Securities Commission Malaysia blockchain pilot project for OTC will deploy Neuroware’s Cortex technology, a blockchain agnostic service that is capable of working across a host of different distributed technologies which allows for blockchain functionality without the tie-in to any specific ledgers and the ultilisation of multiple blockchains for different aspects of the project. The same technology was also previously deployed with Equity Crowdfunding platform ATA Plus which can be seen in action below.
Image Credit: Neuroware
Upon completion of this pilot project, the findings  will be published as an industry blueprint. This blueprint will elaborate upon the technology architecture, key software functions and development standards which will form the building blocks for interested parties to use blockchain network for unlisted and OTC markets paving the way for blockchain adoption in within the Malaysian securities market.

This article was first published on fintechnews.sg

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Blockchain/Bitcoin
Regtech/Regulation

Bank Negara Malaysia Seeks Public Feedback on Cryptocurrency Regulation

									by Vincent Fong
December 14, 2017
3 comments

The rapid development and adoption of cryptocurrencies have driven regulators from around the globe to adopt various approaches and regulatory measures and Malaysia is no exception.
Following the announcement by Bank Negara Malaysia Governor, Tan Sri Muhammad Ibrahim in late November, Bank Negara Malaysia has issued for public consultation for digital currency exchanges as reporting institutions under the “Anti Money Laundering, Anti Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (AMLA)
This was done with the specific aim to ensure that effective measures are in place against money laundering/ terrorism financing risks associated with the use of cryptocurrenciesand to increase the transparency of digital currencies activities in Malaysia.

Though the paper was issued for public consultation, it is also made clear that Bank Negara Malaysia still does not recognize cryptocurrencies as a legal tender and that the general public should still conduct their own due diligence when dealing with cryptocurrencies as there are no formal mechanism for legal redress.
The paper proposes that for cyprotcurrency exchanges to comply to a reporting obligations and risk assesments relating to anti money laundering and counter terorrism financing laws that are not dissimilar to the ones that financial institutions in Malaysia are currently complying with. When in effect, the paper also proposes that cryptocurrency exchanges that carries out activities in Malaysia that are not necessarily located in Malaysia to be subjected to the same requirements.
Currently Bank Negara Malaysia still welcomes feedback from the general public and all submissions must be made by 12 January 2018. More info on the paper can be found here

This article was first published on fintechnews.sg

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Regtech/Regulation
WealthTech

Securities Commission Malaysia Regulatory Sandbox Calls for Participation

									by Vincent Fong
December 22, 2017
0 comments

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) today announced that parties interested in establishing and operating an Alternative Trading System (ATS) in Malaysia can apply to participate in the Securities Commission Malaysia regulatory sandbox sessions.
The Securities Commission Regulatory sandbox will be ran under the SC’s FinTech Innovation Lab (aFINity – alliance of FinTech community). This follows the Budget 2018 announcement on the introduction of ATS in the Malaysian capital market.
The SC’s Innovation Lab will commence from 2 January to 30 March 2018. Since 2015, the Securities Commission Malaysia has pioneered the regulatory sandboxing approach where regulation is imposed on a graduated scale in line with the growth of the market and complexity of the product.

The Lab allows the SC to discuss and provide feedback to innovative business ideas and concepts, and to explore proof of concept solutions designed to meet specific industry needs.
During the regulatory sandbox sessions at the Lab, interested parties are expected to describe the details of its ATS proposal and provide the SC with information on the type of ATS, the features of the proposed market which include the products to be traded, its users, operating rules and procedures, post-trade arrangements and the value proposition to the overall capital market. A description of the required information can be found at https://www.sc.com.my/digital/ats/.
Feedback provided to the SC during the engagement sessions will be taken into consideration in formulating the SC’s regulatory framework for ATS.

This article was first published on fintechnews.sg

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Blockchain/Bitcoin
Malaysia

Securities Commission Malaysia Queries CopyCashCoin ICO

									by Vincent Fong
January 5, 2018
1 comment

Following media reports on the Singapore based CopyCash launch of its CopyCashCoin ICO next week, which claims to be the world’s largest blockchain-based social travesting platform, Securities Commission Malaysia has issued a statement to caution investors against being exposed to heightened risks of fraud as the ICO operates online and may not be regulated.
According to the statement issued to the media, the regulator will be calling in key officers from CopyCash to inquire into its activities including the planned ICO launch given that the activities falls under the regulated areas of the Securities Commission of Malaysia.
This statement comes amidst both heightened activities by new ICOs to solicit investments from the public and heightened public interest into cryptocurrencies by the Malaysian public as an alternative form of investment.

Though the statement from the regulator may appear as though Securities Commission Malaysia isn’t neccesarily favourable towards ICOs and cryptocurrencies, it is also important to note that the regulator has in the past shown support in it’s previous statements announcing its pilot blockchain project and plans to launch a secondary market for the trading of established cryptocurrency and digital assets.
Tan Sri Ranjit Singh, Chairman of the Securities Commission Malaysia has also previously mentioned that they are still closely monitoring the space and that the Securities Commission is now a part of the International Organization of Securities Commisions ICO Consultation network, where regulators are discussing the latest development in this space.

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Crowdfunding

RM 14 Million Raised: pitchIN Leads Malaysia’s Equity Crowdfunding with 60% Market Share

									by Vincent Fong
January 8, 2018
1 comment

Malaysia’s equity crowdfunding scene is becoming increasingly vibrant, during the pitchIN Equity Crowdfunding Report 2017 event, the crowdfunding platform announced that they ended 2017 with 60% market share closing at a total of RM 14,022,132 with 12 issuers.
Sam Shafie, CEO, pitchIN

Sam Shafie, CEO, pitchIN, shared that “Our success was only possible because of the support we received from great companies and we are happy that we were able to find companies that investors loved. We want to take this opportunity to thanks our partners, companies and investors who have made us the number one platform in Malaysia”

Commenting on 2018 plans for pitchIN, Kashminder, CIO and Co-Founder, laid out the company’s plan which includes partnerships with key organisations like The National ICT Association of Malaysia (PIKOM) and outreach to younger investors through the Young Investor Club which is aimed at bringing investment education to youth as well as opportunities to invest through exclusive deals that are only available to club members.
Sam added that for 2018 the key priority for pitchIN will be to onboard a higher number of promising companies to raise funds in pitchIN to create value for its investors. pitchIN will be beginning the year with a decent headstart of having 20 companies already signed up to raised funds between now and June. The list includes prominent entrepreuners like Ganesh Kumar, who’s previous accolades include founding the NASDAQ listed company MOLAcess Berhad who will be raising funds for his new venture Commerce.Asia.
The crowdfunding platform is confident by June 2018 they will be able to comfortably achieve the target of raising between RM 15 Million to 25 Million, surpassing the 2017 target. While the numbers are certainly encouraging investors should also be cautious of investment risks, during the early days of crowdfunding in UK many of the companies raising funds through crowdfunding within 1 to 2 years.
Cognizant of this issue Kashminder emphasised that pitchIN focuses only on having great companies on the platform which they work with on various levels, once they hit certain maturity and traction only then will the companies be put on the platform. He also added that their key principle in evaluating these potential companies is to see whether they themselves would invest their own money in the company, to which Kashminder said that without fail every they have put in their own personal money in every company that has raised in their platform.
We’ve also done a piece summarizing the performance of Equity Crowdfunding platforms in Malaysia, if you’re interested the article can be found here.

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Blockchain/Bitcoin
Regtech/Regulation

CopyCashCoin Ordered by Regulator to Cease and Desist in Malaysia

									by Vincent Fong
January 9, 2018
1 comment

Following earlier reports of the Securities Commission Malaysia’s (SC) query into the CopyCashCoin ICO the regulator has directed CopyCash Foundation to immediately cease and desist all its proposed activities including a purported plan to launch an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) on 10 January 2018 in Malaysia.
This directive covers all activities as described in or incidental to CopyCash Foundation’s white paper pursuant to the CopyCashCoin ICO, including any roadshows, seminars or promotional events related to the scheme.
The directive was issued by the SC following its inquiry after it found that there is a reasonable likelihood that disclosures in CopyCash Foundation’s white paper and representations to potential investors will contravene relevant requirements under securities laws.

The SC advises investors to be cautious of the risks of fraud and exercise due diligence before participating in ICO schemes. While the SC continues to facilitate use cases of digital assets in the capital market, it remains vigilant in monitoring ICO schemes given the heightened risks, and will not hesitate to take action where necessary.

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Payments

An Inside Look: Concerns on Malaysia’s First Cashless Store by IrisPay

									by Fintech News Malaysia
January 15, 2018
0 comments

As the digital wallet war heats up in Malaysia, a new player, Irispay throws its hat into the ring with their fully cashless concept store in Subang Jaya, seemingly as a push to promote usage for their digital wallet.
Irispay claims to be Malaysia’s first fully cashless unmanned convenience store which operates 24 hours with ambitions to launch 250 stores by 2018.

Their concept store largely consists of vending machines that sells a variety of products ranging from snacks, beverages and the standard range of items that you’ll find in a regular convenience store, upon selecting the desired item, customers can then purchase it using the Irispay Mobile App. The demo of the app in action can be seen in the below video.

https://fintechnews.my/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/IrisPay-Cashless-Concept-Store-Demo-Video.mp4

While the concept is certainly an interesting gimmick that will help drive buzz and conversation around Irispay, there were also some irregularities that we feel is our journalistic duty to point out.
Irispay is operated by “Iris World International Berhad” which one would assume is a public listed company in the KLSE, however further searches within the the Main Board and ACE Board shows that such entity is not registered under the KLSE, a search into the the Apple App Store shows that the registered entity is actually Iris (M) Sdn Bhd.
Editors Update 15th January 2017 4.46pm : SSM Database indicates that IRIS World International Group Berhad is indeed a public limited company with the registration number 1203470-X

Photo Credit: Irispay
The company is chaired by former Inspector General of the Malaysian Police force Tan Sri Musa Hassan, who is not generally known to be familiar with the payments and fintech industry.
In fact he was known to be affiliated with the controversial multi-level marketing company Monspace who was recently flagged in the Bank Negara Malaysia’s Financial Consumer Alert List .
Further investigations also found that neither IrisWorld International Berhad Group Berhad nor Iris World (M) Sdn Bhd is not listed under Bank Negara Malaysia’s list of regulatee which typically would be required by a business like IrisPay.
It is important to note that this does not necessarily mean that they are operating illegally, there is a possibility that they are partnering with entities that does hold the license.
While FintechNews Malaysia does not categorically say that Irispay’s business is illegitimate, there are certainly several areas that raises concerns.
Note: FintechNews Malaysia has reached out to Irispay for comments and will update the story as it develops

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Lending

Peer Pressure: Malaysia’s Peer to Peer Lending (P2P) Performance

									by Vincent Fong
January 18, 2018
11 comments

Peer to Peer Lending or better known as P2P Lending refers to an online platform that matches lenders to borrowers, the concept is widely believed to be introduced by Zopa and popularised by the likes of Lending Club. The framework for P2P lending in Malaysia was first issued by Securities Commission Malaysia in 2016 and Malaysia became the firsts ASEAN country to regulate P2P lending.
However, unlike our western counterparts Malaysia’s P2P lending is permitted for businesses only and is not open to individuals seeking personal financing. Given Malaysia’s high household debt to income ratio of 84.6% it is understandable why regulators in Malaysia might be reluctant to immediately open up P2P lending for personal financing. In this article we intend to explore the state of play for P2P Lending Malaysia.
Currently there are six licensed P2P Lending platform operating in Malaysia:

P2P Lending Malaysia Approved Platforms

Funding Societies is a regional P2P lending player operating in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. The company was founded by Kelvin Teo and Reynold Wijaya who were both Harvard graduates. Funding Societies operates in Indonesia under the name Modalku.

B2b Finpal is a local P2P lending player, but it’s not a complete rookie to the SME space its parent company B2B Commerce (M) Sdn Bhd has been providing supply chain management software for the past 17 years to SMEs.

Fundaztic is owned and managed by Peoplender (M) Sdn Bhd. The company’s management team consists of industry veterans and senior level ex-bankers.

AlixCo is fully owned and managed by FundedByMe (FBMCrowdTech Sdn Bhd) FundedByMe, a Swedish-based  crowdfunding platform. In Malaysia they are also approved by Securities Commission Malaysia to be a Equity Crowdfunding operator.

QuicKash is a unit under the public company ManagePay Systems Berhad, a provider of end-to-end electronic payment (“e-Payment”) solutions. The company aims to leverage on their fintech experience from running MPAY to give them a competitive edge in P2P Lending.

Nusa Kapital (NuKap) claims to be world’s first regulated Shariah-compliant P2P Crowdfunding Platform. NuKap is fully owned and managed by Ethis Kapital Sdn Bhd

So, how are these 6 players faring in the P2P Lending Malaysia scene? Based on the latest numbers aggregated by the FintechNews Malaysia team the number totals up RM 40 million at the time of writing.
P2p Lending Malaysia – Market Share of Funds Raised by Operators (Nov 2016- Jan 2018)

Out of the RM 40,000,000 funds raised, Funding Societies takes the lion share with over 51% of funds raised through their platform. According to statements from the operator, default rates on loans range from minimal to zero, but seeing as how the industry is relatively young, it’s hard to reliably say that default rates will maintain at current lows.
The P2P lending industry in Malaysia collectively announced in 2017 that they are targeting to finance a combine total RM 230,000,000, compared to last year’s total which is RM 17,000,000 . While the numbers are looking relatively healthy and the industry will still enjoy a reasonable growth this year, we maintain that the target is a rather tall order and we are bearish on the target.
If you’re interested to find out about how Equity Crowdfunding is doing in Malaysia here’s another piece that we did that you might find helpful .

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Blockchain/Bitcoin
Regtech/Regulation

Malaysian Regulators: Raising ICOs in Malaysia Could be an Offense

									by Fintech News Malaysia
January 19, 2018
3 comments

In a joint-statement issued by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) today, the regulators stated that Initial Coin Offering (ICO) schemes may fall under the jurisdiction of the regulators.
Both the regulators warned ICO issuers that carrying out regulated activities without prior approval from the authorities is considered an offense. The activities include but is not limited to; fund-raising, fund management, capital market products, deposit taking, foreign exchange administration, remittances and the exchange of digital token for payments.
This statement follows Securities Commission Malaysia’s recent move to issue a cease and desist to CopyCashCoin. Bank Negara Malaysia and Securities Commission Malaysia maintain that consumers should be cautious before participating in ICO and advised the public to advised to refer to the list of institutions that are licensed or approved to carry out regulated activities under the laws administered by Securities Commission Malaysia and Bank Negara Malaysia.

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Payments

iPay88: Malaysia’s Cashless Ambition On Track

									by Vincent Fong
January 22, 2018
0 comments

Malaysia shows significant growth in cashless transactions
Mobile payments are the most dominant method
Online banking is a preferred method over cards in the eCommerce space

Malaysian-based iPay88, a provider of online payment service solutions in ASEAN shared its analysis findings of its 2017 data insights.

As one of the dominant market player of Malaysia’s online payment system transactions, iPay88’s annual findings give a good barometer of Malaysia payments space within the fintech landscape
Online Transactions & Sales Volume
Over the past 12 months of 2017, iPay88 recorded a total of  58.5 million online transactions on its payment gateway systems, increasing by 53.1 per cent from 2016.

Of these 58.5 million transactions performed via its online payment gateways, the festive season month of December was the popular month with over 6.7 million transactions recorded.
Mobile Transaction Growth
During the press conference, Chan Kok Long, Executive Director of iPay88,  draws attention to the growth of mobile payments in Malaysia.

Commenting on the mobile transactions, Chan said, “In January 2017, we recorded a little less than  2.0 million mobile-type online payments. In December 2017 alone this number shot up to 3.5 million”
Meanwhile, iPay88’s data statistics show that desktop-based online transactions are stagnating at a constant fluctuation between 0.8 – 1.2 million per month, in 2017.
(L-R )Chan Kok Loong, Executive Director, Ipay88, Tohru Yoshida, Executive Director, iPay88
“This year, the driver for mCommerce will be the trend of more creative mobile applications being launched for the online shopper, that combines location services, retail customer intelligence, payment solutions and social media experience,” Chan added.
Biggest Growth Areas for Online Payments
iPay88’s data analysis also shows some interesting trend that indicates the biggest growth in online payments between Year 2016 and Year 2017 are as follows: –

Apparel and fashion is the largest segment of where cashless transactions happens, whereas the transportation section shows the most growth in recent times.
Commenting on the growth within the transportation segment, Chan said, “Transportation is becoming a major segment of the online business-to-consumer (B2C) market. This is not unusual, considering that there has been greater usage of mobility services apps such as KTM – which is becoming synonymous as inter-state transport alternatives in Malaysia,”
Chan predicts that with ubquity of payments option available for general ticketing services in the near future there will no longer be anyone queuing up at counters to purchase tickets be it for movies or concert tickets
Online Banking Overtakes Credit Card
An interesting highlight from the observation of iPay88’s data insights is the preference of online banking over credit cards for online payments in Malaysia

Between the months of January to December 2017, credit cards accounted for between 1.3 million –  2.4 million online payments each month. In comparison, there were between 2.5 million – 4.4 million online banking payments each month.
From this, clearly online banking is the preferred choice of online payment and iPay88 attributes a few contributing factors to this: –

 Online Banking does not involve credit interest
 Online Banking systems and option have become prevalent and easy for users
 Online Banking is available to non-credit card holders

“It is not to say that credit cards are becoming obsolete for online payment and shopping in Malaysia. However, the choice of online banking is more attractive now and it is also generally positive because it advocates the habit of spending what you have in the bank, rather than buying on credit,” he adds.
2018 – Year of the Digital Wallets
Unsurprisingly, Chan shares the opinion of many industry commentators that 2018 will be a year for digital wallets in Malaysia with many startups, telcos, banks, foreign players, and incumbents from other sectors throwing their hat in the ring. Not to be left out of this growing trend, Chan shares that with iPay88’s e-money license, they will soon be offering white-label services to those interested to launch their own digital wallet.
He foresees that in the near future Malaysia mobile payments in Malaysia will be ubiquitous to the extent that payments can be made through QR codes in the “pasar malam” a colloquial term in Malaysia for night markets which many Malaysian frequent. This adoption by merchants according to Chan, will largely be driven by economies of scale when the likes of iPay88 offers white label services to various parties and by the implementation Malaysia’s Real-time Retail Payments Platform by Paynet.

However, FintechNews Malaysia believes that Malaysia is still a long way from achieving the status of cashless society. When compared to nations like China who essentially leap-frogged payments cards, Malaysia for better or for worse enjoys a relatively decent ecosystem for cards payments which can prove to be a challenge to switch consumer behaviours from cards to mobile wallets.
Coupled with the increasingly fragmented market of more and more mobile wallets coming in the picture, we believe that this will further add to the challenge of Malaysia achieving its cashless ambitions. While all is not bleak, it is our opinion that Malaysia will only achieve a cashless society once we see more adoption from merchants and consolidation from the digital payments market.

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


E-Wallets
Payments

Merchantrade Launches Multi-Currency Payments Card and Mobile Wallet with VISA

									by Vincent Fong
January 25, 2018
2 comments

Merchantrade Asia Sdn Bhd a home-grown Money Service Business operator has launched a VISA multi-currency prepaid card that digitally converts pre-loaded Malaysian Ringgit into multiple currencies. This launch comes in the time of an increasingly competitive landscape with the likes of Alipay, WechatPay, BigPay, Boost, Vcash, One2Pay and countless others each coming up their own version of mobile wallet in Malaysia
The service is known as Merchantrade Money, it consists of a pre-paid payments card coupled with a mobile app that enables users to buy and sell currencies at a lock-in rate, card to card money transfer and load up to RM 10,000. The users of Merchantrade Money will also be able to withdraw cash from VISA enabled ATMs around the world at the locked-in exchange rates, subjected to respective overseas bank charges.
The service currently can hold value in 5 currencies namely; Australian Dollars, Sterling Pound, Indonesia Ruppiah, Singapore Dollar, US Dollar and Malaysian Ringgit with the goal of having a total of 20 currencies by 2018. Merchantrade Money will primarily be targeted at Malaysia’s large migrant worker population and travellers.

When reached for comment on how Merchantrade plans to thrive in this competitive landscape Ramasamy K Veeran, Managing Director, Merchantrade commented “There are a lot of wallets out there, however not everyone has the same ecosystem that we do. We are currently the largest currency trader in the nation”
Merchantrade currently operates 84 money services branches with footprints in major shopping centers and with more than 400 agent locations across Malaysia. Through strategic international partnerships the network spreads across to 234,000 pay out points”
Chiming in on the matter, Vince Au Yoong, Chief Payments Officer, Merchantrade added “It (Merchantrade Money) has our existing apps like the e-Forex and e-Remit integrated into it which other players do not”
Merchantrade also claims that within 2 months of the soft launch they’ve already acquired 10,000 customers with close RM 10 Million reloads happening on their platform.

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Blockchain/Bitcoin

EY’s Study Shows Big Risks in the ICO Market

									by Fintech News Malaysia
January 30, 2018
0 comments

A lack of fundamental valuation and the due diligence process by potential investors is leading to extreme volatility of the initial coin offering (ICO) market, according to new research published by EY. The research also found that in some cases ICO investors are contributing capital at an average rate of over US$300,000 per second.
The EY research, which studied 372 ICOs around the world, also found that the offerings raised US$3.7b in funds, twice the volume of VC investments in blockchain projects. Furthermore, the US is leading the race with the highest volume of ICOs originating from the country (over US$1b). Russia and China follow, with each over US$300m.
Paul Brody, EY Global Innovation Blockchain Leader, says:

“As ICOs continue to gain popularity and leading players emerge globally, there is a risk of having the market swamped with quantity over quality of investments.
These high-risk investments and the complexity of ICOs need to be managed to ensure their credibility as a means of raising capital for companies, entrepreneurs and investors alike.”

Utility tokens
One of the key findings from the EY research is that there may be no business need for many of the utility tokens being offered. Utility tokens are essentially a form of application-specific currency that blend the technology features of blockchains with a speculative component for investors where the tokens’ value will rise as usage increases.
In most cases, however, there is no need for an application-specific exchange token. Indeed, for companies that record their revenues and expenses in dollars or euros, settling intercompany liabilities with a volatile specialized currency adds complexity and risk without significant benefits. The core technologies and benefits of blockchain technologies can be applied to business operations without having to use proprietary digital currencies.
ICO Valuations based on FOMO

Unlike initial public offerings (IPO) in the stock market, ICOs are sold into the market before a business around the solution exists. While some very promising companies have managed to IPO prior to having profits, they almost always have revenues and customers on which it is possible to build valuation models.
The typical ICO has no customers, no revenue and in most cases, no working product. Often the only foundation for the ICO is a white paper that describes the planned technology and a small piece of software that governs how the tokens are issued and managed. Valuations based solely on a white paper are always going to be risky and extremely speculative.

ICO Networks are Congested
The research also analyzed more than 110 ICOs that have raised 87% of all funds so far. More than 70% were on the Ethereum platform, a public blockchain. It is not only the main platform for ICO, it also hosts a myriad of other distributed applications including the popular Cyrptokitties marketplace.

The result has been network congestion as traders and business operations compete for limited transaction slots. In the long-run, the Ethereum road map builds out a greater capacity for trading and transactions, according to the EY research. In the near-term, network congestion could pose an additional risk to investors.

Security and regulation

Investors face two other significant risks the research finds. The first is regulatory: different countries have varying levels of regulatory strictness for ICOs, leaving vulnerabilities in the market. As a result, those looking to conduct illegal activity with an offering could move to jurisdictions where regulators take a light touch approach toward ICOs.

The second risk is theft from hacking: more than 10% of ICO funds are lost or stolen in hacker attacks (almost US$400m). Hackers benefit from the hype, irreversibility of blockchain-based transactions and basic coding errors that, had the ICO been carefully reviewed by experienced developers and cybersecurity analysts, could have been avoided.
Funds are misappropriated via substituting project wallet addresses (phishing, site hacking), accessing private keys and stealing funds from wallets, or hacking stock exchanges and wallets; all on top of indirect losses caused by high reputational risks for project founders.
Greg Cudahy, EY Global Technology, Media & Entertainment and Telecommunications Leader, says:

“It’s clear that blockchain is already having an impact on many business topics beyond cybercurrency. However, the debate remains with currency usage itself, which began with the rise of blockchain in the first place.
Once new standards are in place that are accepted by all participants—allowing for improved transparency, fraud prevention, and legitimacy — the protection of investors and users alike has a greater chance of success.”

Featured image via: Wikicommons
This article was first published at our Singapore site Fintech News Singapore

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Blockchain/Bitcoin
Crowdfunding
Lending
Malaysia
Payments

Fintech in Malaysia 2018 – January News Roundup

									by Vincent Fong
February 2, 2018
1 comment

Malaysia’s fintech scene is becoming increasingly active, it is sometimes difficult to keep track of all the important events, we figured it might be useful to our readers to do a summary. Here are some news roundup for the month of January keep a pulse on Fintech in Malaysia.
MOL’s One2Pay Rolls Out in 7-Eleven
Image Credit: 7-Eleven
MOL AccessPortal Sdn Bhd who is primarily known for it’s online gaming payments services and reload to-ups launched its mobile wallet called One2Pay late last year in December, in the month of January they announced the roll out of One2Pay at 7-Eleven outlets with plans to make it available to 2,218 stores across Klang Valley.

Both 7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings Berhad and MOL Global Inc. are wholly own subsidiaries of the conglomerate Berjaya Group Berhad. This news follows Alipay’s previous nationwide rollout with 7-Eleven. Whether there are any conflict of interest remains to be seen at the moment.
AirAsia launches BigPay
Image Credit: Big Prepaid
Renowned Malaysian entrepreneur Tan Sri Tony Fernandes announced AirAsia’s foray into the payments space with BigPay. AirAsia intends to tap into its 63 million passenger database to propel its digital wallet ambitions. Tan Sri Tony Fernandes also made a bold claim on twitter that one day BigPay will be worth more than AirAsia.
Air Asia is a part of Tune Group, which also operates Tune Protect Group Berhad, one might speculate that Tune Protect may eventually strengthen their play in insurtech given their increased activity in fintech.

Merchantrade Launches Multi-Currency Payments Card and Mobile Wallet with VISA
Image Credit: Merchantrade
Merchantrade Asia Sdn Bhd a home-grown Money Service Business operator has launched a VISA multi-currency prepaid card that digitally converts pre-loaded Malaysian Ringgit into multiple currencies called Merchantrade Money. Merchantrade currently operates 84 money services branches with footprints in major shopping centers and with more than 400 agent locations across Malaysia
Merchantrade also claims that within 2 months of the soft launch they’ve already acquired 10,000 customers with close RM 10 Million reloads happening on their platform.
pitchIN Leads Malaysia’s Equity Crowdfunding with 60% Market Share
During the pitchIN Equity Crowdfunding Report 2017 event, the crowdfunding platform announced that they ended 2017 with 60% market share closing at a total of RM 14,022,132 with 12 issuers.
pitchIN will be beginning the year with a decent headstart of having 20 companies already signed up to raised funds between now and June. The list includes prominent entrepreuners like Ganesh Kumar, who’s previous accolades include founding the NASDAQ listed company MOLAcess Berhad who will be raising funds for his new venture Commerce.Asia.
The crowdfunding platform is confident by June 2018 they will be able to comfortably achieve the target of raising between RM 15 Million to 25 Million, surpassing the 2017 target.
Luno Sets Up Office in KL and Tax Troubles
Image Credit: Luno
The Malaysian Reserve first reported Luno’s plans to set up their operations in Kuala Lumpur by Q1 of 2018. The setting up of the local operation is part of the firm’s effort to facilitate the bitcoin and ethereum markets. Prior to this, Luno was already a popular exchange in Malaysia for cryptocurrency traders.
Luno’s timing might seem inopportune given that Malaysia’s tax authority the Inland Revenue Board recently launched and investigation into Luno which led to their accounts being temporarily frozen.
Regulators Closing in on ICOs in Malaysia
Malaysian regulators are increasingly more vocal about their stance on ICOs, both Bank Negara Malaysia and Securities Commission Malaysia recently issued a statement warning the public about the risks of ICOs.
The statement follows Securities Commission Malaysia’s cease and desist order to CopyCashCoin who initially planned to launch its ICO in Malaysia on 10th January 2018.

ManagePay Receives Greenlight to operate Money Lending Business
Image Credit: ManagePay
ManagePay a veteran payments player in Malaysia secured their money lending business license from the Ministry Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Ministry. This additional licensing makes ManagePay one of the more diversified fintech players in Malaysia with licences for Merchant Acquisition and E-Money from Bank Negara Malaysia, and P2P loan license from Securities Commission Malaysia under their subsidiary QuicKash.

Let us know in the comments below if you like our January News Roundup, if it’s something that our readers enjoy we might make this a monthly thing.

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


IRB Lifts Freeze on Luno

Blockchain/Bitcoin

IRB Lifts Freeze on Luno

									by Fintech News Malaysia
February 5, 2018
0 comments

Earlier in January Malaysian tax officials the Inland Revenue Board froze the bank account of popular cryptocurrency exchange, Luno. The account was frozen pending an investigation relating to tax matters.
Luno users were still able to trade cryptocurrencies but were unable to convert their ETHs and BTCs into Ringgit Malaysia. This led to many Luno users cashing out their cryptocurrencies via other exchanges like Remitano despite suffering losses due price differences between the platforms and exchange fees.
According to a statement issued by Luno, the Inland Revenue Board has agreed to unfreeze Luno’s bank account while it completes the investigation. Luno is now working closely with Maybank to have the account operational again. At the time of writing, Fintech News Malaysia tested withdrawal availability with no success.

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly


Banking
Digital Transformation

EY Global Banking Report: 66% Malaysian Banks Target Digital Maturity by 2020

									by Vincent Fong
February 6, 2018
1 comment

More than half of Asia-Pacific banks, including those in Malaysia, expect to become digitally mature or digital leaders by 2020
Smart Contracts investments bank by banks will remain low in the near-future despite the hype surrounding it

Overall Priority of Banks

According to the EY Global Banking Report titled “EY Global Banking Outlook 2018”, 85% of banks globally cite implementation of a digital transformation program as a business priority for 2018, with greater investment in technology to drive efficiency and growth. Managing evolving risks is also viewed as critical for sustainable success.

Globally, addressing cybersecurity is the top priority for banks (89%) in 2018, replacing last year’s top priority of managing reputational, conduct and culture risks, which falls to sixth place in this year’s report. Recruiting, developing and retaining key talent (83%) also garners significant attention as banks strive to integrate cyber experts into their organizations amid a shortage of skill sets.
The EY Global Banking Report further found banks in developed Asia-Pacific markets, such as Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore, are focusing on developing partnerships with FinTechs, investing in technology to reach customers and improving risk management, with 82% listing these as their top business priorities for 2018. Meanwhile, all respondent banks in the emerging Asia-Pacific markets surveyed (Mainland China, India, Indonesia and Malaysia) list their top priorities for the year as implementing a digital transformation program, gaining efficiencies through technology, and enhancing data and cyber security.
“The majority (75%) of banks in the developed Asia-Pacific markets and half (50%) of banks in the emerging markets also stated they are planning to set up new partnerships or JVs in their core markets in 2018. So we are likely to see greater collaboration between Asia-Pacific banks and e-commerce or other technology platform players, particularly as open banking reforms progress in markets such as Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore,” says Jan Bellens, EY Global Banking and Capital Markets Deputy Sector Leader.

Shankar Kanabiran, Partner, E&Y Advisory Services Sdn Bhd
Shankar Kanabiran, Partner and Malaysia Financial Services Banking & Capital Markets Advisory Leader, Ernst & Young Advisory Services Sdn Bhd, says, “All of the banks surveyed in Malaysia have similarly identified recruiting, developing and retaining talent as one of the top priorities, with digitalization and other market demands pushing for new or upgraded skills from the workforce,”  continues Shankar.
Digital Leadership Maturity

The survey of senior executives at 221 banking institutions across Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America and emerging markets found that just 4% of banks across developed markets in Asia-Pacific currently view themselves as being digitally mature or digital leaders. In comparison, 27% of banks in North America and 15% in Europe consider themselves as being digitally mature today.
“In Malaysia, 66% of banks surveyed aim to reach digital maturity by 2020, echoing similar aspirations to other markets in the region and the world.   All of them are focused on investing in technology in the coming three years in line with their growth strategies and in order to generate cost savings and operating efficiencies. Over 50% of the banks in Malaysia are also likely to set up partnerships or joint ventures in core markets this year.” says Shankar
On the European and American end Bellens says this may indicate that American and European banks are benchmarking themselves against traditional competitors, while banks in the developed Asia-Pacific markets of Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan are comparing their maturity levels with those of emerging competitors, who have more digitally focused business models.
“Asia-Pacific has a much higher penetration of digital and mobile technology adoption than many other regions. Mainland China, for example, has the highest rate of FinTech adoption in the world and many of the big cities there are effectively operating as cashless environments. Compare this with the US, where cheques are still prevalent and the relative benchmarks for financial digital maturity look quite different,” he added.
He then continues to say, “Regardless, there is an obvious recognition among Asia-Pacific banks of the urgency of embracing digitalization, with 60% in the developed and 57% in the emerging Asia-Pacific markets aspiring to reach digital maturity by 2020, almost on par with the global average of 62%.”
Drivers and Key Areas of Tech Investment

With the fintech companies becoming increasingly aggressive globally and mushrooming in local marketsalongside competitors strengthening their technology portfolio it is no surprise that 70% of the bankers surveyed cited that strengthening their competitive position is one of the key reasons to to invest in technology. The other reasons cited in the report are also the usual suspects and are not untypical reasons for banks to invest in technology.

The EY Global Banking report also indicates that in terms of prioritisation of technology investments the report has shown the key priority is Data Analytics, Cloud Technologies and Mobile Technologies with the secondary priority being Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Biometrics, Machine Learning, Omnichannel Platforms, Open APIs, Robo Advisory and Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Interestingly despite the hype around smart contracts the report indicates that the banks are not investing in the next 3 years and those who are already investing in it will be reducing their investments. An interesting observation from the report is that much of the bankers are not putting the money where their mouth is seeing as how 89% of them cited that cybersecurity is a top priority for their bank but only 40%-60% are increasing their investments into it.
“Ten years after the global financial crisis, banks are experiencing increased competition from a range of new market entrants and evolving risks that challenge their ability to deliver sustainable profitability. In order for banks to weather the performance challenges that lie ahead, they must emerge from an era of regulatory-driven transformation and prepare new strategies for a future led by innovation and technology,” Bellens concludes.
The full report can be found here
Featured image via: Flickr

Get the top fintech stories directly in your inbox monthly