Finovate Global Malaysia: Payments Partnerships, Funding Sustainable Energy, and More

This week’s edition of Finovate Global looks at recent fintech developments in Malaysia.

AFFIN Group announced a new partnership with ACI Worldwide this week. The alliance is designed to help modernize real-time payments capabilities for the Group’s AFFIN Bank Berhad.

“A robust payment infrastructure is a catalyst for innovation and scalable growth,” Group COO of Affin Bank Berhad Encik Risham Akashah Bin Kamaruzaman said. “It enables AFFIN to deliver integrated, value-driven payment solutions that cater to the diverse needs of today’s dynamic business landscape and customer demands. Our partnership with ACI is a significant stride in our digital transformation journey, streamlining our operations and enhancing our customers’ payment experience.”

The partnership will give the bank a new enterprise payments platform that brings greater efficiency to its payment processes, providing a centralized system that consolidates payment instructions from multiple channels. The technology also converges high-value and low-value payments, including Affin Delivery System (ADS), AffinAlways Retail Internet Banking and Mobile Internet Banking, AFFINMAX (the bank’s corporate internet banking platform), as well as ATMs

ACI Worldwide and Affin Bank also expect to see significant efficiency gains of 75% thanks to process automation and the elimination of manual tasks. The technology will enable Affin Bank to process 20%+ more transactions, and enable interoperability among PayNet, RENTAS, and SWIFT using ISO 20022 standards.

“As banks navigate unprecedented regulatory changes and rapid digitization, payments modernization goes beyond just a technology refresh; it is a strategic transformation that spearheads new avenues of business growth and competitive advantage,” ACI Worldwide SVP and Managing Director of APAC Leslie Choo said.

ACI Worldwide made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2011 in partnership with MShift. The company returned to the Finovate stage for our developers conference, FinDEVr SiliconValley, in 2016. In the years since then, ACI Worldwide has grown into a major payments solutions provider that processes more than 225 billion consumer transactions a year and serves 6,000+ customers around the world.

Headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida, ACI Worldwide was founded in 1975. Thomas Warsop is CEO.

Okapi Technologies, a Malaysian startup that facilitates financing for solar energy projects, raised an undisclosed amount of funding late last month. Participating in the fundraising were early-stage investor The Radical Fund, as well as angel investors Lai Chang Wen and Shaun Chong, co-founders of logistics company Ninja Van.

Okapi’s goal is to make residential solar energy affordable to homeowners in Malaysia and throughout Southeast Asia. The company’s platform leverages embedded financing and a project management solution to connect sustainable energy investors with dealers, installers, as well as engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) firms in the solar power industry. Okapi’s goal is to fund the installation of 100 residential solar energy installations a month by the first quarter of 2025.

Last year, Okapi unveiled its instant approval financing product, which enabled partner installers to secure immediate credit decisions for residential customers via an online portal. The offering increased conversion rates, shortened sales cycles, and allowed Okapi’s partners to focus on value-added tasks such as system design.

Lai Zhern Yung, who founded Okapi with Christopher Kwong, praised Malaysia’s “renewable energy ecosystem, stable regulatory frameworks, and forward-thinking government policies” as reasons the company selected the country as its first market in Southeast Asia. “With this raise, we will continue developing innovative solutions to democratize access to affordable solar energy for all homeowners, while creating a new asset class underpinned by green, responsible, and secure income streams for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investors globally,” he said.

If you are in Malaysia toward the end of the month, and have an interest in how fintechs in the country are innovating with blockchain technology, then you are in luck. Malaysia Blockchain Week 2024 is coming to Kuala Lumpur at the end of the month, July 29 through August 1.

Organized by Lydian Labs, Malaysia Blockchain Week is an opportunity for blockchain and Web3 industry leaders, government officials, and supporters to network and pursue innovative collaborations. The event will cover issues on blockchain education, regulatory activity, and some of the more interesting blockchain and Web3 projects currently underway in the country. With an expected audience of more than 60 speakers and 2,000 attendees, the Week will feature a speaker roster that includes Etherscan CEO Matthew Tan, CoinGecko Co-Founder Bobby Ong, and Bitget CEO Gracy Chen.

In other Malaysian fintech news, the country’s largest fintech TNG Digital launched its all-in-one financial hub, GOfinance, within its TNG eWallet this week. The new offering comes one month after TNG Digital announced a partnership with Malaysian payments company Curlec by Razorpay designed to boost financial accessibility for merchants and consumers in underserved markets.

Malaysian insurtech PolicyStreet this week told the Ministry of Transport (MOT) that it plans to forge a strategic partnership with the Road Transport Department (JPJ). This would help the firm secure approval to offer road tax renewal services to its customers. The company began the year securing the approval from the Labuan Financial Services Authority (LFSA) to launch takaful and retakaful operations. Takaful is a form of Sharia-compliant insurance in which individuals contribute funds into a pool to provide financial coverage in the event of loss or damage. The approval makes PolicyStreet one of the few firms in the country to offer the coverage.

Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Asia-Pacific

Thai fintech Ascend Money secured $195 million in funding to fuel expansion in Southeast Asia.

Sumsub announced a handful of new strategic partnerships with technology resellers in SE Asia including Philippines-based Nexus Technologies.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Association of Banks in Singapore reported a growing preference for digital tokens over one-time passwords (OTPs).

Sub-Saharan Africa

South Africa’s Tyme Bank appointed new CEO Karl Westvig.

Nigerian fintech Accelerex launched its Pay with Fingerprint solution on PoS terminals in the country.

BankservAfrica and UnionPay International (UPI) teamed up to facilitate safer and more efficient ecommerce transactions for UPI’s African cardholders.

Central and Eastern Europe

Lithuania’s iDenfy and UAE-based SIMPal forged strategic partnership to enhance security in the telecom industry.

Israeli-Swiss fintech Okoora announced its expansion into the Polish market.

German brokerage-as-a-service platform lemon.markets raised $13 million in funding from CommerzVentures, Heliad, and existing investors.

Middle East and Northern Africa

Abu Dhabi-based Pyypl achieved PCI-DSS V4.0 certification this week following news of the company’s partnership with Visa.

Saudi Arabian fintech EdfaPay secured a license to bring its financial payment solutions to Morocco.

Azimut Egypt obtained the first fintech license from the country’s Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) to launch its new digital investment platform, azinvest.

Central and Southern Asia

Bangladesh-based fintech Nagad forged a partnership with Huawei Technologies

Digital banking provider TBC Uzbekistan raised $38.2 million from investors including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Emerging Europe profiled the fintech ecosystem in Kazakhstan.