KUALA LUMPUR: Axiata Group Bhd has been approached by 11 local parties on possible partnership to set up Malaysia’s maiden virtual banking service.
Its deputy group chief executive (CEO) Datuk Mohd Izzaddin Idris said the parties included banks and other players from relevant sector related to virtual banking.
“We have provided our comments, and have been engaging with Bank Negara Malaysia. Hopefully, we can form the partnership that’s needed and make the submission in June,” Izzaddin told reporters at Axiata’s financial year 2019 briefing here today.
Izzaddin said if all goes well, Axiata expects to establish the virtual bank by the second half of 2021.
It was earlier reported that Axiata was applying for a digital banking licence.
In the Exposure Draft on Licensing Framework for Digital Banks published on December 27, Bank Negara Malaysia said that it was going to issue up to five licences to qualified applicants to operate such services, for either conventional or Islamic banking in the country.
The central bank has also set a minimum capital fund unimpaired by losses by RM100 million for the virtual bank’s foundational phase, which would be increased to RM300 million subsequently.
Axiata’s digital arm, Axiata Digital Services Sdn Bhd, has been running the financial technology for the telco, including operating Boost, one of Malaysia’s e-wallets, with four million users.
Axiata group CEO Tan Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim said the group had also experimented with shariah-compliant micro lending via Axiata Digital Capital.
It had prodvided RM45 million worth of loans to-date, with non-performing loans at one per cent, he added.