Last week, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) announced the five successful applicants fo MY\s digital bank licenses:
Cigar
- AEON Credit + AEON Financial + MoneyLion
- Axiata - Boost + RHB
- Grab + Singtel + Kuok Group
- KAF Investment Bank + MoneyMatch + Carsome
- Shopee + YTL
No Cigar
- Angkasa Cooperative + Boustead
- BigPay + MIDF + Ikhlas Capital
- GreenPacket + Zico + M24 Tawreeq
- iFast + Armed Forces Cooperative + THZ Alliance + 99SpeedMart +YillionBank
- Kenanga Bank + Revenue Group + Sarawak
- Paramount + Star Media + RCE Capital
- Presto Wallet + Sabah + Pahang
- Sunway + LinkLokgis (Tencent) + Bangkok Bank
Notes
- Preference seem to be given to consortia which at least one member has a large app-based user base eg. Boost, Grab and Shopee. THiis is perhaps to give the sucessful licencees the best possible start vs HK digital banks which took some time to gain traction.
- A possible lean towards the B40 maket eg. Grab works wih riders and mcro-enterprises.
- BigPay seems to meet the above 2 criteria but could have been hampered by the lack of a standout deep-pocketed partrner.
- Sunway and Paramount are prominent candidates but they could be seen as mainly non-financial M40/T20 players.