Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has revealed that it will issue up to five licenses to qualified applicants to set up digital banks in Malaysia. This revelation was part of the announcement for the Exposure Draft on Licensing Framework for Digital Banks which took place earlier today.
In case you are not familiar with it, digital bank in general still offers the usual banking products and services. However, they would be made available directly through the app in your digital devices such as phones, tablets, and PCs.
In fact, it has been stated inside BNM’s draft framework that digital banks are not allowed to open any physical branches with the exception of a sole physical office for communication purposes. However, they can offer their service through agents given that they have obtained approvals from BNM.
Meant to cater the underserved and unserved segments of the market, digital banks could be the next key factor that help link between fintech and consumers after e-wallet. However, it is going to take a while before we able to check out what digital bank is all about though.
This is due to the fact as BNM will only open the application process for digital bank after it releases the finalized Policy Document within the first half of 2020. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see which companies out there that are interested to explore this new frontier.
(Source: Bank Negara Malaysia.)
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