Digital Financing: Powering a Ca$hless Economy

The lockdowns have transformed consumer purchasing and spending habits.

A top insight from a recent Facebook and Bain & Company report predicted that, by the end of 2020, digital consumers in ASEAN would reach 310 mil, a number previously forecasted to reach only by 2025! The survey also shown that e-wallet saw a surge as the preferred payment method where it grew by 8% between 2019 and 2020.

A recent study by Mastercard, Malaysia is found to be the leader in ASEAN with the highest e-wallet adoption. Statistics by the Central Bank of Malaysia showed that the transaction value for e-money in 2020 increased by about 63% to RM29.3 bil, surpassing 2019 (RM17.9 bil).

The Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint targets 400 e-payment transactions made per capita by 2022 and the availability of 36 EFTPOS terminals per 1,000 inhabitant by 2022.

With the continuous evolution of technological innovations in the recent years, it has definitely played an important part in the fintech industry. Concentrating only on a certain aspect will definitely not be enough to face future challenges, hence the fintech industry requires constant renewal in order to make proper adjustments when required.

Like the recent pandemic, no industry is exempted from its impact. Consequently, the advancement of fintech has shaped its way into the society by adapting towards unprecedented times which provides an updated and enhanced version of financial services made available to the public such as the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Financing platforms. So, what is P2P Financing and how does it work?

IDC predicts, by the middle of 2021, 50% of credit decisions in retail banking will involve FinTechs.

Malaysia is ranked at 31/139 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Network Readiness Index for being digitally enabled to seize the opportunities brought by FinTech. However, regulatory compliance organisations are constantly being challenged by the risks associated with financial crises and the advancements of FinTech and InsurTech.

RegTech (regulatory technology) is designed to help firms automate the more routine compliance tasks and reduce operational risks associated with meeting compliance and reporting obligations.

Islamic finance will benefit from FinTech as they can improve transparency – a core principle of Islamic finance – and minimise risk through real-time traceability of assets and cash flows.

Presentation synopsis TBA.

IDC’s FutureScape: Worldwide Future of Digital Infrastructure 2021 Predictions suggested that a mandate for uncompromising data integrity, security, governance and trust will lead 80% of enterprises to create a single, company-wide data management strategy to break down all data silos in the next 2 years.

As discussions surrounding business resilience hits a crescendo amongst Southeast Asian organizations especially FSI Industry, data has been the underpinning driver in ensuring continuity across all business functions, customer interactions and operational processes.

In responding to the rising need for organizations to consume data in real-time, make intelligent decisions and ensure business continuity, the consideration for multi-cloud data management has entered the lexicon of many CIOs. Multi-cloud data management and protection is rapidly evolving in response to high volumes of data being created in the core, cloud and edge.

As more than 30% of organizations in Southeast Asia are looking at heightening IT investments as a manner to accelerate digitalization, join us for a discussion on how best you can begin intelligently managing your data as part of journey towards becoming a resilient Future Enterprise. Your backup doesn’t need to be just an expensive insurance policy but can also support other business requirements.

“Imagine a world where trust isn’t even an issue anymore. We are not there yet, but blockchains are already helping us reimagine the world in ways that may have seemed like science fiction just a few years ago.” UNDP

“DeFi”, or decentralised finance, peer-to-peer cryptocurrency platforms that allow lenders and borrowers to transact without the traditional gatekeepers of loans: banks.

Blockchain-based solutions are not only secure & resilient, they are also fast and & cut transfer fees in half. DeFi removes many of the barriers that prevented SMEs and startups from entering the market.

Digital currencies in 2020 took steps toward mainstream adoption and a boom in decentralised finance rekindled interest among developers. Elon Musk’s recent endorsement of Bitcoin marks one of the most prominent backings of decentralised finance to date.

Given the accelerated rise of DeFi, PwC recently reported known incidents in 2020 are estimated at $200 mil and the majority of the incidents happened in the last months of the year.

Is DeFi really the future?