Late last week, BNM confirmed that it has received 29 applications for the licence. The central bank didn’t reveal who were the actual applicants and has noted that the applicants come from a variety of backgrounds including banks, cooperatives, e-commerce operators, fintech companies, industrial conglomerates, state governments, and tech companies. Some of them did disclose their applications and here is a partial list of such companies:
AEON CreditAxiata – RHBBigPayGrab – SingtelGreen PacketiFastMPayPertama DigitalPUCStar Media Group
Even from the partial list above, you can see many big names were actually attracted by the prospect of being one of the first digital bank operators in Malaysia. With only up to five licences to be issued by BNM, this is obviously not going to be easy for any of them. Furthermore, it is also going to take some time before consumers are able to actually obtain services through digital banks as successful applicants will only be revealed by BNM within the first quarter of 2022. (Source: Bank Negara Malaysia.)
