Consulting firm PwC conducted a survey last year to gauge the Malaysian banking sector’s readiness for ESG. Results from the study were released recently and showed that financial institutions in the country have woken up to the ESG imperative, with most sharing concerns about climate change, environmental and social risks.

Of the 14 Malaysian banks polled, 90% indicated having assigned a department to operationalize ESG, showcasing that Malaysian banks are making progress in establishing governance and oversight over ESG risks.

In addition, 21% of respondents said they have already embedded three ESG-related frameworks within their organization, namely the Climate Change and Principle-based Taxonomy (CCPT), the Value-based Intermediation Financing and Investment Impact Assessment Framework (VBIAF), and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

Results from the 2021 PwC survey echo those of a study conducted the same year by Malaysia’s Joint Committee on Climate Change (JC3). Formed in 2019, JC3 is a committee co-chaired by representatives from the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) that focuses on building climate resilience within the Malaysia financial sector.

The study, released in April 2022, shares findings from a survey of 24 respondents in the banking, finance and insurance sectors, and found strong commitments from Malaysian financial institutions on sustainability and climate issues.

92% of respondents indicated having a sustainability strategy in place, and 73% of banking respondents said they have made some commitments to ban or phase out financing of coal-related activities.

In the banking sector, Hong Leong Bank has been praised for being among the industry’s leaders in ESG standards, recognized by a 2021 CGS-CIMB Research paper for its efforts in promoting ESG practices across its operations, working with its borrowers to improve standards, incorporating ESG evaluation in its loan approval process, and practicing disclosure of ESG-related information.

Within the telecommunications sector, CGS-CIMB Securities has ranked Telekom Malaysia (TM) highly from an ESG perspective, highlighting the telco’s ability to consistently meet the regulator’s quality of service (QoS), key performance indicators (KPIs), relatively lower regulatory risks compared to other mobile telco players, and continuous effort to implement a robust cybersecurity framework.

TM announced earlier this year that it had implemented the use of renewable energy to power its data centres, becoming the first company in the country to do so. Two of its data centres, namely the Klang Valley Core Data Centre (KVDC) in Cyberjaya and Iskandar Puteri Core Data Centre (IPDC) in Johor Bahru have secured the Green Electricity Tariff (GET) from Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), as well as Green Building Index (GBI) and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certifications.

Further showcasing its commitment to sustainability, TM, together with Yayasan Sukarelawan Siswa (YSS) and 18 partners comprising local councils, institutions and universities, recently collaborated to plant 5,017 Gutta Percha trees (instrumental in the early beginnings of the global submarine telegraph network) at 23 locations all over Malaysia.

Members of the public will also have the opportunity to contribute as TM launched its Adopt-A-Tree campaign where customers can adopt a Gutta Percha tree which will be planted within the 23 unifi Green Zones.

In the long term, TM aims to cut down carbon emissions by 30% in 2024, 45% by 2030 and achieve Net-Zero emission by 2050.

The company is also aiming to provide high-access Internet to at least 70% of premises nationwide and has committed to having a minimum of 30% representation of women on its board of directors and in management.

The 12th Malaysia Plan

Progress observed among Malaysian firms in integrating ESG considerations comes on the back of an ongoing push by the government to advance sustainability, as well as strengthen security, wellbeing, and inclusivity.

The five-year 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) development plan, introduced by the government back in September 2021, aims to achieve economic growth and transform Malaysia into “a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable country.”

Goals include achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, increasing the total installed capacity of renewable energy, enhancing green financing and incentives, and promoting the circular economy.

In the financial sector, the industry is guided by the respective blueprints and masterplans released by the regulators to address sustainability and climate issues.

In September 2021, the SC launched the Capital Market Masterplan 3 (CMP3), which serves as a strategic framework for the capital market to continue to support the economy and transition towards greater inclusivity and sustainability.

And earlier this year, BNM released the Financial Sector Blueprint 2022-2026, outlining the central bank’s development priorities for the financial sector over the next five years, anchored on efforts to foster market dynamism, support sustainable development objectives, and facilitate an orderly transition to greener, more climate-resilient economy and financial sector.

Rising demand for sustainable investments

The rise in importance of ESG standards comes as consumers are growing more concerned about the environment and demand institutions to behave in ways that align with what they believe is socially responsible.

PwC, which polled 5,005 consumers, 2,510 employees, and 1,257 business leaders in the US, Brazil, the UK, Germany and India last year, found that 83% of consumers believe companies should be actively involved in creating ESG best practices. More significantly, 76% of consumers said they would discontinue relationships with organizations that treated employees, communities, or the environment poorly.

In Southeast Asia, this trend is evidenced by the surge in sustainable investing. Between 2016 and 2020, the issuance of sustainable bonds and sukuk, or bond-like instruments used in Islamic finance, grew exponentially at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 198% in ASEAN, reaching US$22.1 billion in 2020, a 2022 report by EY shows. Total ASEAN sustainable bonds and sukuk issued is projected to amount to US$29.8 billion in 2021.

This article was first published by FinTech News Malaysia

The post Here’s How Malaysia is Stepping Up Our ESG Efforts appeared first on TM One.

Many businesses seek digital transformation for a number of reasons. Among them, having access to more in-depth data may equate to understanding customer insights better and, thus, having the ability to create a strategy that connects with them better. On top of that, there is also room for cost reduction as a result of time savings in operational processes.

Strategic partnerships may also be a strategy to employ when undergoing a digital transformation, as it allows different businesses to leverage and learn from each other in order to better meet any challenges the future may hold.

Tune Protect, Huawei Malaysia & TM Partner Up To Shift Existing GIS

In March, Tune Protect, Huawei Malaysia, and TM announced an exciting new collaboration to re-platform Tune Protect’s existing General Insurance System (GIS) on Cloud via Huawei Malaysia and TM’s Cloud infrastructure, Cloud Alpha Edge. This significant shift signifies that Tune Protect is the first insurer in Malaysia to host its core insurance system on Cloud.

As part of the Cloud First strategy, the core system includes a collection of SAP HANA and SAP apps that will be comprehensively housed in TM Cloud Alpha Edge with full landing dependability and confidence.

According to Muhammad Ghadaffi Bin Mohd Tairobi, TM One’s Vertical Director of Banking & Finance Sales, “TM One is committed in accelerating the digital transformation journey of our customers by helping them to provide the best digital experience to their end-users. This is particularly true in these times where digital transactions have increased exponentially. Tune Protect’s success in adopting Core System in Cloud Alpha Edge is a benchmark for all companies in the Banking, Finance and Insurance industry to embark on the public cloud journey confidently. Not limited to just cloud adoption, we provide end-to-end digital solutions for innovative product development while providing the best solutions and infrastructure such as cybersecurity and big data analytics enabling omni-channel, data monetisation agenda, leading to cost optimisation.” 

Tune Protect, on the other hand, always had Cloud as the centrepiece of the digital transformation. Prasanta Roy, Group Chief Technology Officer of Tune Protectshares that having the SAP insurance core platform on Cloud helps to fast track innovation in their products and services, achieve speed-to-market, and provide differentiation in service to their customers. “Being the first insurer is a mere coincidence, but it has definitely the right step to set up the right foundation for technology transformation,” he adds

Cloud Alpha Edge: The Only Malaysian-owned Hyperscaler Public Cloud

Besides being a product of two large scale companies, Cloud Alpha Edge has an array of unique distinctions to its name. To date, it is the only Malaysian-owned Hyperscaler Public Cloud that actively advocates data sovereignty.

To date, Cloud Alpha Edge is the only Malaysian-owned Hyperscaler Public Cloud that actively advocates data sovereignty.

TM One is also the only local player with its own twin-core data centre, cloud infrastructure, with complete data residency and sovereignty. This infrastructure is strengthened through AI, and advanced cybersecurity solutions. This is especially suited for industries that are at high risk for cyber threats such as Public Sector and Healthcare. In fact, Cloud Alpha Edge already has multiple footprints in these industries, as well as Manufacturing.

Personal Data Kept Secure And Locally

With the rise of Insurtechs across the globe, it is quite evident that insurers will partner with various players in this space to bring in differentiation. Taking a closer look at data privacy, data residency and PDPA has to be taken into account. Tune Protect’s risk, governance/compliance and technology team worked together on all these aspects carefully while considering various public and private cloud options available within and outside of Malaysia. Cloud Alpha Edge came closest to meeting this need as the cloud data centres are based in Malaysia and customers are assured that their data remain preserved with the highest data sovereignty and confidentiality, as shared by Prasanta.

This also implies that data on the Cloud is stored in Malaysia rather than overseas, addressing the issue of data sovereignty. “They (Huawei Malaysia and TM One) are the right partner for Tune Protect based on all the considerations such as availability zones, SAP partnership with TM, and support availability around SAP from Cloud service provider,” explained Prasanta.

Created For Users To Enjoy An Overall Better Experience

The working together between Tune Protect, Huawei Cloud, and TM One seek to improve a number of things. For one, Tune looks to support improvements in the area of speed-to-market, leveraging the agility and scalability of cloud services whilst also accommodating to the spike and decline of the market. In addition to that, enhanced customer experiences are also something they look forward to through improved IT productivity and a seamless user experience.

“As technology progresses and customers demand more personalisation, it is the right time for us to build the new SAP core system on Cloud to collaborate with other ecosystem partners to deliver a personalised experience for our customers in terms of product and claims,” continues Prasanta.

Upskilling Employees For Future Demands

Not only will this partnership benefit existing and future users of Tune Protect, but the re-platforming also benefits company employees. With the presence of Cloud services like “racking and stacking” which can be completed by the Huawei or TM One team, this would free up the time of their internal technology team.

It’s only realistic for this transition to face its own set of unique challenges, such as converting the legacy on-premises software to Cloud-native. In preparation for any transitional friction the team may face, Tune Protect has lined up a mitigation plan that includes various Cloud certifications, online training, and on-the-job training for the respective team members to ensure a smooth and seamless process.

Prasanta also shared that the Infrastructure and Security teams will be upskilled so they are able to manage hybrid data centres, consisting of both on-premise and Cloud.

A Brighter Prospect For Malaysians & The BFSI Industry

Migrating the critical systems to Cloud where on-premise hardware is nearing expiry would be next for Tune Protect, he adds. Consumers can look forward to new services such as health tech and other innovative solutions from Cloud that would enhance customer-centricity and experience as they aspire to grow more digital partnerships in the near future, in alignment with the overall Group’s business trajectory. 

Huawei Malaysia believes that this collaboration is a strategic move that encourages data sovereignty in Malaysia, especially as no other public cloud service providers currently offer this, as mentioned by Lim Chee Siong, Vice President of the Cloud Business Unit at Huawei Malaysia. It marks a major breakthrough in FSI digitisation in Malaysia and Huawei Cloud also hopes they are able to help accelerate digital transformation in banks and insurance companies across the country.

The post Malaysia’s First Insurance Core System To Be Hosted On Public Cloud appeared first on TM One.

Statistics¹ from the Commercial Crime Investigation Department at the Royal Malaysia Police show that cybercrime is skyrocketing as consumers shift to online channels.

Between 2017 and June 20, 2021, Malaysians suffered losses amounting to about RM2.23 billion (US$533 million) from cybercrime frauds.

Of the 67,552 cybercrime cases reported during the period, e-commerce scams topped the chart with 23,011 cases. Meanwhile, complaints on online transactions surged 112% between 2019 and 2020, indicating that cybercriminals are looking to capitalise on the surge in e-commerce activity and rapid consumer adoption of digital financial solutions amid the new normal brought about by the COVID-19.

The pandemic forced consumers to turn to online retailers to buy groceries and e-wallets to pay their bills. A survey conducted² by Kaspersky and research agency YouGov found that out of the 1,600+ respondents in Asia-Pacific (APAC) polled, 90% indicated having used mobile payment applications at least once in the past 12 months. Around 15% of the total survey respondents said they began using digital payment methods during the pandemic.

1. Asia emerges as favoured target

At the enterprise-level, cyber threats are exploding as well. The 2022 IBM Security X-Force Threat Intelligence Index, released³ last month, revealed that Asia has become the most attacked region globally, with over one in four cyber attacks recorded by the tech firm last year targeting users in the continent.

Asia saw more cyber attacks than any other region in the past year, the report says, with financial services and manufacturing organisations in particular experiencing nearly a combined 60% of attacks in Asia.

Server access attacks, where the attacker gains unauthorised access to a server, was the second-most common attack type observed, making up 11% of all incidents IBM’s X-Force IR team remediated in 2021. The majority of these attacks occurred in Asia, and in many cases the threat actors were successful in deploying malware or employing penetration testing tools on a server, the report indicates.

2. Fast digital transformation puts stress on IT systems

The pandemic has accelerated digital transformation and forced people to change the way they worked, transacted, and banked. This unprecedented speed of digital transformation is putting stress on banks’ IT systems, compromising real-time data analysis, and creating storage and security issues.

A recent survey⁴ of 305 global bank COOs and CTOs conducted by data-monitoring and management company - ITRS Group, found alarmingly weak operational resilience at financial institutions in the wake of COVID-19.

84% of respondents stated that their IT environment has changed more in the past 12 months than over their company’s lifespan, with digital transformation, work-from-home arrangements, cloud adoption, and more sophisticated security threats cited as the top drivers of change in banks’ IT environment. The figure stands even higher for APAC-based institutions where the velocity of IT change was found to be the greatest.

Globally, 79% of respondents indicated that it has become increasingly difficult for their institution to maintain their SLAs, or service-level agreements, with more than half stating that they suffered at least one business day of unplanned downtime every year.

Additionally, 94% stated that digital transformation has resulted in a significant increase in the volume of data, leading to challenges in analysing data in real-time (65%), storing data (62%), and difficulties in securing data (62%), creating a concerning trend.

3. Security, fraud prevention as a differentiator

As more people rely on digital payments and get accustomed to digital services, awareness of cyber risks and crime is also on the rise.

In fact, security is becoming consumers’ top concern, with 67% of Southeast Asian respondents polled by Kaspersky and YouGov indicating that they hope for the implementation of one-time passwords (OTPs) through SMS for every transaction.

After OTPs, two-factor authentication was named the second most preferred security feature (57%), while 56% of respondents said biometric security features, like facial or fingerprint recognition, should be added for digital banking and e-wallets.

Going even further, a considerable proportion of consumers believe that financial services providers should play a bigger role in protecting their customers from being defrauded. In fact, 40% of respondents indicated that banks and mobile wallet companies should “start preventing frauds/scams automatically based on spending behavior and/or transfer history.”

4. Advanced scams and social engineering on the rise

With increasing international cooperation and the establishment of multiple task forces to trace ransomware gangs, Kaspersky experts believe the number of such attacks will decrease in 2022.

Instead, cybercriminals will turn to more advanced scams and social engineering as they seek to exploit human and system vulnerabilities. These scams will leverage all sorts of tools and channels, ranging from SMS and automated phone calls to messaging apps and social networks, and will be fueled by the availability of advanced technologies such as deepfake and voice synthesis, the experts said, quoted⁵ by Vietnam News.

In Thailand, nearly 40,000 people were scammed with their bank accounts and credit cards showing inexplicable transactions. In Malaysia, scammers used fake bank websites to steal customers banking details. And in Vietnam, criminals impersonated top e-commerce platforms to trick users into sending money.

5. Cryptocurrency and NFT industry continues to attract cybercriminals

Kaspersky experts predict a significant wave of attacks on cryptocurrency businesses, a trend that started in 2019 and which coincides with the beginning of the cryptocurrency market’s bull run.

Figures from blockchain data platform Chainalysis show⁶ that cryptocurrency-based crime, including scams, ransomware, and stolen funds, hit a new all-time high in 2021, with illicit addresses receiving US$14 billion over the course of the year, up 79% from RM32.91 billion (US$7.8 billion) in 2020.

Kaspersky experts said they have already witnessed advanced persistent threat (APT) groups rising to attack the cryptocurrency business aggressively, and they anticipate that this activity will continue as criminals increasingly exploit flawed security and resort to advanced techniques including manufacturing and retailing rogue devices with backdoors and social engineering campaigns to steal cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies are particularly attractive to criminals, considering the anonymity they provide.

Southeast Asia could be more vulnerable than other countries, considering that consumers in these locations are known for being avid adopters of cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Among 20 countries surveyed by Kaspersky, the Philippines was found to have the highest adopter rate of 32% of Filipinos indicating owning digital assets. This is followed by Thailand (26.2%), ranked second, then Malaysia (23.9%). Vietnam (17.4%) was fifth and Singapore (6.8%) 14th.

Protect Your Organisation Today

The urgency of addressing the relentless surge of cyber threats impacting both the public and business sectors is a fundamental step to enabling a sustainable, safe and successful digital society. As a key player in digital transformation for companies across industries, TM One's commitment to cybersecurity helps to create a safe and secure online environment for businesses and protect consumers from fraud and identity theft.

TM One has collaborated with CyberSecurity Malaysia, the national cybersecurity specialist agency, to elevate the nation’s cybersecurity network and ecosystem while strengthening Malaysia’s self-reliance in cyberspace.

“At TM One, we understand that new technologies are driving the accelerated digital transformation for many industries, allowing players to respond quickly to changes as well as provide customers with better digital experiences. Having a strong cybersecurity foundation will benefit Malaysian financial institutions not only mitigate cyber risk, but boost performance.  Our Managed Security Services are designed to meet the specific needs of financial institutions and take their digital transformation forward to effectively improve operations, address compliance requirements, and enable open ecosystems,” said Muhammad Ghadaffi Mohd Tairobi, Director of Sales for Banking and Financial Services at TM One.

Do you know what are the key sources of cyber risk in Malaysia? Click here to download the infographics.

This article was first published by FinTech News Malaysia

References
1. https://www.nst.com.my/news/crime-courts/2021/07/708911/malaysians-suffered-rm223-billion-losses-cyber-crime-frauds
2. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1552270/threat-awareness-high-as-digital-banking-users-list-preferred-security-steps
3. https://www.ibm.com/downloads/cas/ADLMYLAZ
4. https://www.itrsgroup.com/a-global-operational-resilience-survey
5. https://vietnamnews.vn/economy/1141324/advanced-scams-data-breaches-crypto-and-nft-attacks-imminent-in-southeast-asia-kaspersky.html
6. https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/2022-crypto-crime-report-introduction/
7. https://www.tmone.com.my/solutions/cybersecurity-services/bfsi-infographic/?utm_medium=cybersecuritypage&utm_source=TMONE&utm_campaign=CYDEC

The post 5 BFSI Cybersecurity Trends in APAC You Need to Know in 2022 appeared first on TM One.

Malaysia's focus on smart cities and smart communities is also gaining momentum and reflects the wider trend. The global smart cities market size estimated to grow from US$457 billion last year to US$873.7 billion by 2026, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.8%, according to a Markets and Markets¹ report,

Taking a few steps back, the unveiling in 1996 of Malaysia’s digital economy vision, started with Cyberjaya, which was seeded as the country's smart city, within a national vision to become a digital economy hub starting with the MSC Supercorridor (MSC Malaysia) platform².

As a smart city zone, Cyberjaya³, was tasked to become a test bed to nurture emerging technologies and to become a preferred tech investment location, according to Najib Ibrahim, managing director, Cyberview Sdn Bhd in an interview with Disruptive Asia last year⁴.

Jumping ahead a few years to last year, we saw two launches to spur Malaysia's smart city aspirations: the Smart City Handbook: Malaysia⁵ on 22 June 2021 by Malaysia’s former housing and local government (KPKT) minister YB Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin and the UK’s high commissioner, H.E Charles Hay; closely followed by the soft launch on 29 June 2021 by technological partnership think tank MIGHT⁶ (Malaysia Industry-Government Group for High Technology) of its Smart City Outlook 2021/22 (MSCO) report⁷.

Continued major smart city developments include: the Smart Selangor⁸ initiative, aiming to make it the most liveable state within the region by 2025; Smart City Iskandar Malaysia⁹, and various digital programmes under DBKL (Kuala Lumpur City Hall) under its Kuala Lumpur Smart City Blueprint 2021-2025¹⁰.

In the same week of MIGHT’s report, the government announce the appointment of Swedish ICT company Ericsson as 5G development partner to build an end-to-end rollout of a SWN (single wholesale network) in Malaysia at a total cost of RM11 billion ($2.65 billion), according to a statement by Digital Nasional Berhad (DNB) – which is the government entity overseeing the rollout of MyDigital¹¹.

Interestingly, Malaysia’s announcement of its national 4IR policy, which was also in the first week of July, posited a smart city framework. As envisaged by Malaysia’s Smart City Framework under the 12th Malaysia Plan 2021-2025, of which MyDigital is a component¹², the digitalisation of society and the economy is seen as vital to accelerate Malaysia’s recovery and to enhance the quality and safety life.

However, at the time of writing, the regulator Ministry of Communications and Multimedia (MCMC) and the Finance Ministry tabled a memorandum slated for 11 March 2022 to the Malaysian Cabinet for a decision on the possibility of opting for a dual wholesale network (DWP).

Regardless of the rollout approach, the 5th generation wireless technology is viewed by industry and governments as positing the potential to spur smart city growth and bring more communities into the digital arena.

Recently, the country's housing and local government minister Dato’ Sri Reezal Merican said:, “At the top of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government’s agenda is to promote the philosophy of ‘Liveable Malaysia’ in line with the 12th Malaysia Plan. ‘Liveable Malaysia’ emphasises on ensuring that the rakyat’s [the people's] wellbeing is safeguarded and defended within the purview of our ministry. Among the key focus of ‘Liveable Malaysia’ is mainstreaming digitalization in the service delivery of local authorities as well as adopting advanced technology in the development of cities within the Malaysia Smart City Framework.”

Panel: Keys to a Smart Digital Economy

His comment came in late February of this year during the United Kingdom' virtual Smart Cities Mission to Malaysia, which again served as the latest spur to review the smart cities and smart communities aspects of Malaysia's digital transformation agenda.

Held 22-24 February, the three day mission's objectives were two-fold: to increase collaborations to encourage smart city development in local government and housing and related fields; and to introduce offerings from about 40 UK smart city solutions providers.

Speakers at the panel discussion on capitalising technology to build a sustainable and smart digital economy¹³ included Asia Pacific Digital Trade Network regional director Christopher Bush (acting as the moderator, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) vice president Ir Dr Karl Ng, Tech London and Global Tech Advocates founder Russ Shaw CBE, and TM One executive vice president Shazurawati Binti Abd Karim.

In her opening, Shazurawati pointed to AI as constituting a key driver today among emerging technologies, enabling new levels of efficiencies for businesses and organisations of any size as well as its use in daily lives through mobile apps for shopping, transport, banking, customer service through chat bots, cyber security detection and mitigation, and so on.

Citing a recent IDC report - IDC MaturityScape Benchmark: Artificial Intelligence in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) ¹⁴ - that revealed 42% of Asia Pacific enterprises were deploying AI albeit in isolated projects, she affirmed that: "AI offers a core capability in digital transformation and maturity levels in the region; and another research study assessing Asean suggests that AI may add one trillion dollars to the region's GDP by 2030 if we do this right."

Russ Shaw concurred with her comments the importance of AI and added 5G, blockchain among others. "We need high speed connectivity to enable emerging technologies across enterprise and public sectors including smart cities."

Indeed, founder chair of Outreach UN ITU Prize ACM for good Global Summit Stephen Ibaraki , writing from his pro bono work¹⁵ involving more than 100,000 CEOs, investors, experts and scientists, concludes that: "By 2030 AI will measurably influence and impact more than 8.5 billion people, across all sectors, and human & earth diverse ecosystems on an unprecedented scale."

Building Happy Cities

"Technological impact on Malaysia with technologies through smart city adoption is rightly balanced with sustainable - green technology - considerations. Malaysia is blessed with a lot of ongoing development from an infrastructure perspective," commented Shazurawati, citing the use of technologies such as IoT sensors to detect, predict and mitigate local climate challenges such as haze, regular flooding, soil erosion, and traffic management.

Speaking to other societal aspects, she said: "Safety and convenience of the community is a high priority: For example, using AI and smart service solutions, we believe that integrated smart city surveillance such as using CCTV is only really useful with the use of analytics and AI through an integrated operations centre. Beyond public safety, we can use it as tool for cohesive disaster management, which will be enhanced with the coming of 5G. The volume and required speed of 5G will be part of the perfect recipe for smart city developments."

Shazurawati added that Malaysia's adoption would need to embrace solutions beyond CCTV such as drones to cover larger surveillance areas such as ports, platforms and refineries.

"During the pandemic, we learned to use drones to deliver medical supplies to remote areas. With regards to 5G, she said that Malaysia's aim is to roll out 5G coverage to 80% of the population by 2024 in order to deliver impactful opportunities and benefits¹⁶ through services for smart city development."

Malaysia's smart digital economy testbed cases demonstrating the potential of 5G hark back to 2019/2020 when MCMC – together with various telecoms stakeholders such as Telekom Malaysia (TM) ¹⁷, Celcom Axiata, Digi Telecommunications, Edotco Malaysia, Maxis Broadband, U Mobile, Petroliam Nasional, and YTL Communications – held 5G Malaysia Demonstration Projects (5GDP) in six states involving an initial investment of RM143 million.

At the time, Malaysia envisioned 100 use cases embracing nine verticals - agriculture, education, entertainment/media, digital healthcare, manufacturing and processing, Energy, smart city, smart transportation and tourism. Some of these use case demonstrated some of the benefits that digital technologies with enhanced communications such as 5G would bring such as enhanced security, safety and economic opportunities to communities on the island of Langkawi, and its potential as a smart island¹⁸.

Shazurawati said, "[Since then] TM One has worked with several council municipalities with surveillance, smart traffic, smart lighting, smart building projects are part of the matrix to enhance the quality of life, to use technology to raise happiness levels of a city - to develop happy cities."

This approach bodes well with sentiments from and other industry leaders. Closing the digital divide and benefitting humankind were two of the themes in a recent interview¹⁹ with UN agency ITU (Telecommunication Standardisation Bureau) ²⁰ director Chaesub Lee. “There is a lot of talk about AI in emerging technical areas, but we want to find a practical approach,” Lee said. “We bring someone having problems they need to solve, and we bring someone who wishes to provide the solution, and then we have them meet to facilitate how to utilize AI and ML to help humankind.”

Similarly, Jouko Ahvenainen, pioneer in digital finance and data analytics, opined²¹ that smart city models often overlook one key component - the people in them that though 'one main objective of smart cities is to collect data to improve and develop services', the value of such developments to people and their privacy appears to have a lower priority'.

TM One's stance is to offer building blocks to the private and public sectors - such as smart premises, smart agriculture, smart manufacturing, and so on²² - to develop smart happy cities, said Shazurawati.

Digital Foundation & Partnerships

MDEC's Dr Karl echoed these trends by detailing some of the projects MDEC has been encouraging. The availability of data, balanced with security & privacy concerns, remains one of the challenges. The need for policy and government direction coupled with skills and right awareness are other factors to use technology to enhance productivity and generate wealth.

Co-creation, partnerships are vital to move forward, Shazurawati said. She added that global spending on smart city solutions could reach USD 2.5 trillion dollars by 2026.

"To better unleash innovation, connectivity is fundamental and we cannot live without this. To deliver services, we need to build these on a strong digital foundation - formed by cloud, data centres, cybersecurity and smart services," she said.

Shazurawati agreed with Dr Karl that data and the correct exchange of data is a powerful enabler of executing more citizen services, and applications.

"We need to be open to explore new business models with a human centred, integrated approach geared towards raising happiness levels. A strong, sustainable digital foundation with collaboration and new ways of working is the way forward," she said.

"Citizens deserve a one stop service with single-sign through a digital ID on for services as part of an effective smart city model, Shazurawati added. "Public and private partnership platforms will certainly accelerate development."

Russ Shaw echoed these statements and added that investment from both public and private capital is a critical element for smart economy and smart city development. "The importance of growth capital from both sectors is needed to enable the innovation and implementations discussed in the panel. How to encourage businesses of all sizes and Cale to measure their environmental impact. This is the importance of data as Shazurawati and Dr Karl have been speaking eloquently about."

Stepping Forward

Smart cities operate through the collection of data to improve and develop services. Establishing smart cities relies on smart data – or in other words – cohesive connections between advanced technologies, a flow of data combined with relevant culture change, and administration processes will help to heighten Malaysia’s sustainable smart city development: a trajectory fit to meet the demands of the 4th Industrial Revolution era.

Speaking back in 2017, Hazmi Yusof, managing director, Malaysia and senior vice president at Frost & Sullivan said: “Communication service providers and network service partners play a key role in forming the technological backbone to roll-out smart cities. Singtel in Singapore and Telstra in Australia have laid out US$500 million and US$100 million, respectively, to enable smart city technology platforms and infrastructure. Telekom Malaysia in Malaysia plans to build a data centre and provide cloud computing and smart services in a technology park,” said Hazmi back in 2017.

He also said, “Connectivity will be a key enabler while designing an omni-channel experience platform across all touch points including online and mobile. Data from sensors will enable new technologies to integrate softer aspects, such as customer perception and citizen awareness.”

In the pre-pandemic era, Frost & Sullivan pointed to 10 cities in Asia Pacific that were posited to become smart cities by 2025²³.

Technology and governance will among key enablers for participants in the smart city ecosystem in Asia-Pacific, he said. “Several government agendas in this region are driving the building of smarter cities in Singapore, Japan, China, and South Korea. Investments are expected to grow from US$55.6 billion in 2013 to US$260 billion in 2020,” he said. “Eight emerging cities also have standalone smart city projects, which when scaled-up, can achieve the smart city status by 2030 and beyond.”

The analyst firm's definition is that: 'Smart cities are cities built on “smart” and “intelligent” solutions and technology that focuses on managing and improving its citizen lives in a responsible and sustainable manner.'

Together with critical importance of balancing the pace of urbanisation with the need to manage planetary sustainability, a smart journey will separate the winners from the laggards."

As part of its smart cities and inclusive growth programme, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2020, released a paper, which²⁴, acknowledges the timeliness of utilising the benefits of smart cities as “particularly critical to help cities and countries manage and rebound from this unprecedented global crisis.”

Moving forward, Najib, in his recent Disruptive Asia interview²⁵, asserted that, "Cyberview is one key thread in Malaysia’s smart city story", adding that the 'new masterplan has been designed to provide dynamic synergies between companies from various industries and entire value chains, addressing one of the gaps faced by businesses today: working in silos. Its four distinctive zones will optimise productivity and amplify growth with the three tech clusters to enhance liveability, ultimately transforming Cyberjaya into the centre for global tech powerhouses and promising startups.'

During 2021, Covid-19 related challenges were added prompts to Malaysia’s public authorities to embark on a track to refresh smart city initiatives using digital smart services to upscale service levels, citizen well-being, and especially important at this time – to forge the space for sustainable economic growth and recovery.

TM One, in accord with other industry players, sees the smart city concept pivot from the ‘nice to have’ to the ‘must implement today’ for Malaysia.

Furthermore, an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) paper in 2020, released as part of the organisation’s programme on smart cities and inclusive growth²⁶, reinforces the timeliness of smart city development as “particularly critical to help cities and countries manage and rebound from this unprecedented global crisis.”

A consistent sentiment in most industry and public conversations is that the meaningful development of smart communities and cities to deliver real benefits to people and societies depends on highly collaborative public-private partnerships, supplemented by academia.

The year 2021's Covid-19 related challenges also helped to encourage Malaysia’s public authorities to refresh and accelerate smart city initiatives to maintain as well as upscale service levels, citizen well-being, and especially important at this time – to forge the space for sustainable economic growth and recovery.

The original version of this article was first published on Disruptive Asia. (https://disruptive.asia/pushing-malaysias-smart-city-development-2022/)

1. https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/smart-cities-market-542.html
2. https://mdec.my/what-we-offer/msc-malaysia/
3. https://www.cyberjayamalaysia.com.my/
4. https://disruptive.asia/actualising-smart-communities-in-malaysia-ceo-interview/
5. https://www.kpkt.gov.my/kpkt/resources/user_1/GALERI/PDF_PENERBITAN/FRAMEWORK/Malaysia_Smart_City_Handbook_21062021_Final.pdf
6. https://www.might.org.my/
6. https://www.might.org.my/
7. https://disruptive.asia/malaysia-refreshes-smart-city-aspirations-new-might-report/
8. https://www.smartselangor.com.my/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/SSAP-OFFICIAL-26Aug20.pdf
9. http://iskandarmalaysia.com.my/SCIM/
10. https://www.dbkl.gov.my/kuala-lumpur-smart-city-blue-print-2021-2025-2/
11. https://disruptive.asia/mydigital-malaysias-bid-to-revitalise-digital-economy/
12. https://disruptive.asia/mydigital-malaysias-bid-to-revitalise-digital-economy/
13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhqrGvsxNYc
14. https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=AP47369521
15. https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephenibaraki/2022/02/27/unesco-international-research-center-spotlights-in-2022-global-top-10-outstanding-ai-solutions/
16. https://disruptive.asia/how-digital-malaysia-will-tap-the-disruptive-power-of-5g/
17. https://disruptive.asia/how-digital-malaysia-will-tap-the-disruptive-power-of-5g/
18. https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252477061/Will-5G-turn-Langkawi-into-the-worlds-first-smart-island
19. https:/disruptive.asia/closing-digital-divide-major-mission-for-itu/
20. https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/info/tsb/Pages/default.aspx
21. https://disruptive.asia/smart-city-models-overlook-people-in-them/
22. https://disruptive.asia/2021-smoothing-transition-smart-manufacturing-malaysia/
23. https://www.frost.com/news/press-releases/10-cities-asia-pacific-poised-be-smart-cities-2025/
24. https://www.oecd.org/cfe/cities/OECD_Policy_Paper_Smart_Cities_and_Inclusive_Growth.pdf
25. https://disruptive.asia/actualising-smart-communities-in-malaysia-ceo-interview/
26. https://www.oecd.org/cfe/cities/OECD_Policy_Paper_Smart_Cities_and_Inclusive_Growth.pdf

The post Pushing Malaysia's Smart City Development in 2022 appeared first on TM One.

The answer here is clear. In fact, the Microsoft Global Work Trend Index found that over 66% of leaders say their company is considering redesigning their workplaces to suit a hybrid work model.¹

Employees share the same aspirations, with over 73% showing interest in flexible remote work options. Consequently, your team must prepare for the hybrid work future.

Managing these demands is mission-critical as over 40 per cent of the global workforce are considering changing jobs within the next year - nearly double the amount from past years.

This situation places a lot of pressure on how you retain and attract talents. To help you, we believe your company should centre decisions across these three main questions:

1. The culture question: Do your employees celebrate each other’s success?
2. The technology question: Is technology helping your employees work better?
3. The environment question: Is your workplace designed for upliftment?

There is no definite answer on how your company can answer these questions. It differs significantly from each industry and, most importantly, to each unique employee. A robust and enabling employee experience must cover your employee’s entire life cycle.

In this article, we share three best practices from three distinct companies to give you inspiration on how you can tackle these employee experience questions.

Maybank - Treating employees as customers

“Beyond the pandemic, the overall changing work landscape, in line with the global outlook, and the push towards being more inclusive, point towards a combination of the different work settings to adapt to the different needs of both the workplace and the workforce”² – Datuk Nora Manaf, Group Chief Human Capital Officer

Maybank facilitated the transition of 82% of its workers to a work-from-home (WFH) setting within days when the lockdown struck. From this experience, Maybank took notice of the several groups of people in its workforce based on their nature of work.

In response to their staff and work nature, Maybank laid out a comprehensive hybrid approach to suit their employees’ lifestyle and career aspirations. This strategy included three main approaches to work:

1. Work from home: Allows their employees to work from home for the long term, focusing on virtual interactions and engagements.
2. Flexible working arrangements: Supports staff through different stages in their lives and careers. These include flexible hours, ‘phasing in and out’, various leave types and employee support schemes.
3. Mobile work arrangements: A modern and tracked arrangement where employees are completely 'mobile' to discuss and agree on a model that works for them. This model focuses primarily on outcomes, rather than input.

Maybank seeks to complement these initiatives with new workplace designs and upskilling initiatives to support blended working arrangements.³

Apart from these employee-centric models, Maybank recognised that virtualisation of work could severely impact collaboration and communication.

It becomes easy for us to lose touch with our employees when we rarely meet them in person. As such, Maybank took proactive steps to counter this.

For example, Maybank initiated the Leaders Teaching Leaders (LTL) program, which held virtual sessions for the group EXCO to engage consistently with his employees. In 2020, over 630 sessions of LTL were participated by the Group EXCO.

Maybank shows us that a large corporation in a highly regulated environment does not limit a company to treating its employees with empathy. It recognised the changing demands from employees, and responded flexibly.

Accenture - Prioritising employees’ learning and development

“Our unwavering commitment to inclusion and diversity unleashes innovation and creates a culture where everyone feels they have equal opportunity” – Julie Sweet, Chair and CEO

The growing need for digital skills can sometimes get too overwhelming for our employees. Coupled with the need to balance work, employees can find it challenging to match technology’s pace.

To help their employees, Accenture introduced the Future Talent Platform – a digital upskilling platform. The aim was to ensure that its workforce had the channels it needed to bridge skill gaps with ease and affordability.

This program is highly customisable and provides recommendations for upskilling based on an employee’s role. The platform hosts over 2,400 courses on the Accenture Academy platform and over 8,000 courses from content partners.

In 2021, Accenture reported an increase in training hours by 46% from fiscal 2020 to over 31 million training hours.⁴ They managed to average approximately 60 hours of training per person.

In addition, since March 2020, the company trained more than 70,000 employees on highly sought-after skills, such as cloud computing and remote collaboration tools.

These initiatives are vital today, where employees may feel threatened by technology replacing their jobs. Investing in our employees shows that we care about their growth and development. In return, companies can ensure they can retain their talents for the long term.

DBS Bank Ltd, Technology as a catalyst for employee engagement

“Conventional wisdom is that it is difficult for a legacy company to transform at scale. So, in embarking on change, some organisations keep the old and new organisations separate. My view is that to drive transformation at scale, you must attack the core — and make it mainstream. Even though it’s daunting, I am a firm believer that one needs to create change in the company-wide culture.”⁵ – Piyush Gupta, DBS Bank CEO

Keeping employees engaged with their work can be difficult within a remote setting. Communication lines may weaken, and employees may feel disconnected and alienated. DBS shows how technology, when used effectively, can drive coordination, efficiency, and collaboration.

DBS Bank initiated the “TOGETHER” movement to help its employees navigate through the pandemic as a team.⁶ The bank wanted to make sure that its employees remained connected and engaged by encouraging open communication throughout the pandemic. The three main initiatives of this movement are as follows:

1. Communication program: DBS created guides on how employees can have a smooth transition into work-from-home settings. This included practical guides on how to organise work corners and create productive routines.
2. Encourage social connections through digital platforms: DBS ensured teams remain connected via the bank’s video conferencing platform. DBS introduced team leaders methods to make sure teams connected through initiatives such as daily check-ins.
3. Care packages for personal wellbeing: DBS held several healthcare and wellbeing webinars to help its employees pave their way through the pandemic. Confidential counselling and mental wellbeing programmes were also readily available.

DBS also uses digital tools to encourage transparent communication across the workforce. Digital tools with empathy are a powerful combination. For instance, DBS initiated the “Ask Piyush” to create a direct communication channel to the CEO himself.

Employees can ask questions, comment, and give suggestions to the CEO directly via this digital tool. This channel helps to break the traditional hierarchies and encourages more open communication across the bank. Consequently, such initiatives helped DBS create a conducive environment for its employees to thrive.

References:

¹ Microsoft. (2021, March 22). The Next Great Disruption Is Hybrid Work—Are We Ready? Retrieved 28 October 2021, from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/hybrid-work

² Lee, J. (2021, July 25). Maybank goes flexi. The Star. Retrieved 29 October 2021, from https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2021/07/26/maybank-goes-flexi

³ Surviving The Impact of Covid-19: WFH is here to stay, looking more hybrid. (2021, January 14). The Edge Markets. Retrieved 25 October 2021, from https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/surviving-impact-covid19-wfh-here-stay-looking-more-hybrid

⁴ Accenture. (2020, October 21). Accenture’s Annual Reports. https://www.accenture.com/my-en/about/company/annual-report

⁵ “At DBS, we act less like a bank and more like a tech company.” With DBS Bank CEO Piyush Gupta. (2018, October 12). DBS Innovates. Retrieved 25 October 2021, from https://www.dbs.com/innovation/dbs-innovates/at-dbs-we-act-less-like-a-bank-and-more-like-a-tech-company-with-dbs-bank-ceo-piyush-gupta.html

⁶ Sustainability Report 2020 Stronger Together | DBS Bank. (2021, March 2). DBS. Retrieved 26 October 2021, from https://www.dbs.com/sustainability/reporting/sustainability-report

The post CELEBRATING SUCCESS: Getting Employee Experience Right – Lesson from Maybank, Accenture, and DBS Bank appeared first on TM One.

With digital channels becoming a norm in work and lifestyle needs, the importance of building these channels must be a priority. To that end, EPF has recognised these growing demands and initiated its Operations Transformation 2.0 back in 2017. Since then, the fund has engaged in several digitalisation initiatives. These initiatives serve to improve both the customer experience and internal operational efficiency.

Our article seeks answers to the following questions:

1. How is EPF improving the digital experience of its members?
2. How is EPF creating new channels & services to drive the participation of its members and widen its coverage?

Building a comprehensive omnichannel experience

1. Continuous enhancement to the i-Akaun platform on mobile and web applications

The i-Akaun platform is the primary digital channel for a customer’s interaction with EPF. It is accessible via the internet and more recent mobile applications – the i-Akaun app (for members) and the e-Caruman app (for employers). Some functions performed through these applications include checking account balances, monitoring transaction status, enabling payments, etc.

Since its launch, EPF has continuously introduced new updates/services onto its i-Akaun mobile application. In 2019, several updates included new PDF-format statements for downloads, targeted push notifications, a branch locator service, and fund performance monitoring for its i-Invest users.

With these improvements, the i-Akaun platform has gained commendable acceptance among its members in the past five (5) years. From 2017, the growth in i-Akaun membership grew by at least 70%, with 52.06% of their 14.5 million members registered on i-Akaun. On the employers’ side, 99.36% of 522,297 employers registered for i-Akaun.

To date, the i-Akaun application has nearly 1.5 million downloads with an average rating of 4.5. Both the growing user base and reviews reflect EPF’s focus on building these digital channels.

2. Enhancements to brick-and-mortar branches

To extend the digital experience onto its physical branches, EPF has continuously introduced new processes to improve customer interactions at the branch. The focus here is to provide effective self-service channels and superior customer service.

EPF designed its branches as a one-stop-centre approach. Apart from e-kiosks, EPF also introduced initiatives to provide advisory training for its staff. Nowadays, customers, tend to prefer self-service channels due to their efficiency and ease of use. Hence, EPF recognised that its staff could provide higher value as retirement advisors.

To execute this training plan, EPF introduced the Retirement Advisory Services (RAS) in July 2014, which is now available in 52 branches. The latest figures show that more than 82,000 members received advisory services that RAS provided.

3. E-payroll Services for SMEs

EPF also pays attention to services beyond its core functions. For example, in June 2021, EPF unveiled an e-Payroll service to assist small business owners and entrepreneurs with a digitalised payroll system. This service complements the i-Akaun platform for employers. It ensures that they meet and monitor statutory obligations and employee contributions.

The e-payroll service aims to ease the difficulties that small business owners face in terms of the financial constraints to adopt a digital payroll solution. Some features include the ability to store digital records, monitor account contributions, automate calculations, and many more.

The range of services provided by EPF is indeed commendable. The increase in customer interactions through electronic channels suggests that customers are strongly shifting towards digital channels provided by the fund. In 2019, self-service channels via kiosks and the i-Akaun platform recorded 104.88 million interactions, a 24.12% increase from 2018.

EPF’s Contact Management Centre (CMC), which handles customer inquiries mainly through telephone or email, recorded a 27.16% decrease from 2018. Customers are increasingly attuned to digital channels as opposed to traditional face-to-face interactions according to these statistics.

Launched new services to drive participation & increase coverage

1. Introduced i-Invest platform to drive participation from members

The introduction of this service was a new one for the industry. EPF was the first public retirement fund that allowed its members to invest their retirement savings directly into unit trust funds of their choice. Customers also enjoy significantly lower sales charges through this service. The sales charge ranges from 0%-0.5%compared to the standard range of 2%-3% often charged by intermediaries.

The i-Invest service also includes tools for its members to monitor all the relevant information on the unit trust funds they selected actively. Through these tools, EPF encourages higher participation from its members.

2. Building programmes for gig economy workers

EPF continues to face the challenge to cover a broader range of Malaysian workers. The growing size of the gig economy is one of the leading causes of this. Estimates indicate that gig workers would represent more than a third of Malaysia’s labour force in the next five (5) years. With the pandemic’s impact on job losses, this situation may worsen as Malaysians continue to find alternative income sources.

To counter this, EPF introduced the i-Saraan programme in mid-2020. Through this programme, self-employed workers can voluntarily contribute to their EPF accounts. This programme was designed to encourage gig economy workers to save up for retirement. The pickup has been encouraging, with recent registrations increasing by 22.11% in 2019 with 120,738 registrations.

The government has also championed this initiative by introducing an RM50 million matching grant for i-Saraan investors in June 2020.  In addition, EPF has engaged with the private sector, most notably collaborating with Grab Malaysia by extending their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was signed back in 2018. Like the government’s matching grant, this MOU commits Grab to match contributions by up to 5% with a ceiling of RM80 annually for those below 55 years old. Those above 55 years old are guaranteed matching contributions of 10% with a ceiling of RM120 annually.

How you can emulate EPF

• The customer satisfaction levels are a reflection of the customer-focused culture that is present in EPF. Merely digitalising is not the answer. Businesses need to understand the specific customer journey pain points to build solutions effectively.
• Observing EPF, the fund placed a strong emphasis on creating a comprehensive omnichannel experience, one that could meet the demands of different types of customers. This is crucial to ensure consistent customer satisfaction and provide a seamless onboarding process onto digital channels.

The post CELEBRATING SUCCESS : How EPF Digitalising its Customer Journey appeared first on TM One.

Malayan Banking Berhad (“Maybank Group” or “the Group”) is the largest financial services and banking group in Malaysia. The Group serves its 22 million customers through a robust portfolio of financial products and services, including consumer and corporate banking, treasury activities, insurance, and asset management. These contributed to the Group’s annual revenue of MYR 51 billion in 2020. For the same year, Maybank Group had an operating income of MYR 6.48 billion and was the winner of the world’s best consumer digital bank in Malaysia and Indonesia. 

Despite topping local and international market charts with notable digital milestones like QRPay and Maybank Trade, the Group's M25 plan persists on digitalisation as a key-value driver. The strategy is similar to its Digital Bank of Choice strategy set in 2020. With customers spoilt for choice in today’s market, it is a challenge to reach that pinnacle of customer experience and preserve customer relationships at the same time, especially if a brand doesn’t fully invest in digital roadmaps and collaborations.

“We must always have the user behaviour in mind when we are creating new digital services and/or products. Digital banking providers who provide the best user experience and can solve customers’ problems will continue to be relevant,” said Datuk John Chong, Group CEO of Maybank Community Financial Services.

In this article, you will see Maybank in its journey to improve service delivery capabilities in the era of hyper-digitisation and competition.

Improving the digital banking experience

Maybank takes inspiration from the rapid rise of digital banking and fintech startups in its pursuit to continue enhancing customer experience. The bank’s mission is to provide customers with simple and convenient access to its financial services using ubiquitous digital solutions.

In 2018, the Group revamped the Maybank2U mobile application and website to offer a seamless transacting experience. The mobile application, which now features enhanced payment capabilities and customer personalisation, boasts over 12 million mobile downloads with an impressive 7 million active users (excluding website users) in 2020. New upgrades have allowed customers to generate dynamic PayNow QR codes for on-demand transfers. The mobile app also features a display of remittance options for more transparent overseas fund transfers.  Apart from that, other Maybank2U experience-enhancing functions include Scan & Pay, a personal debit and credit spending tracker, and a customisable savings planner. 

As the Group recognised the growing importance of digital products and services, it launched MAE (Maybank Anytime, Everyone) by Maybank2U in 2020. This complimentary mobile banking and e-wallet application seamlessly integrate online banking with one’s lifestyle needs. MAE not only allows customers to have full access to their savings accounts, pay bills and transfer funds. It also offers newer fintech solutions such as expenses monitoring, in-app virtual debit cards and ‘Tabung’, an individual and group-goal based saving feature. 

Maybank Group received numerous feedbacks from customers with negative experiences from self-service options, such as chatbots and FAQs. Looking to offer a better solution, the Group implemented E-CLEVA, an integrated live video chat solution. With this new capability, insurance claims teams could provide real-time assisted claims support for motor and fire insurances, allowing the bank to process claims digitally and within 15 minutes. 

Building operational efficiency with digitalisation

As customers stay at home during the movement control order, Maybank Group saw a significant surge in the number of digital transactions and users on its platforms — zakat payments before the festive period, for example, has increased by 227% year-on-year (Y-o-Y). At the same time, QRPay saw a transaction volume growth of over 650% Y-o-Y. With active mobile users expanding by 34%, Maybank Group had to deploy cutting-edge technologies to maintain its business outcomes at a rapid speed. 

The Group placed a heavy focus on automating its back offices, namely to streamline back-end processes by implementing machine learning for processing credit applications, branch operations, remittances and trade services. It reinvented the technology stack to support every layer of banking operation by adopting technologies like robotic process automation (RPA), ICR/OCR (Intelligent or Optical Character Recognition) and application integration for certain ‘open’ operations. 

Other digitalising efforts include migrating transactions from branches onto the online payments platform and implementing Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Anomalous Parts Detection for vehicle claims submission. The Group also launched a fully digital Know Your Customer (KYC) capability, enabling a customer to onboard through app-integrated video calls. 

Maybank Group measures the success of all digital initiatives through two (2) measures — straight-through processing (STP) rates and customer turnaround times. These measures allow the bank to track and analyse the efficiency of its services, enabling more productive service delivery capabilities across various operations.

Enabling convenient, safe and secure transactions

The rise of digital banking is analogous to a double edge sword — on one end, you have greater convenience at your fingertips. But on the other side, digital vulnerabilities and frauds can now affect us more than ever. Maybank Group mitigates these risks by internalising a robust cybersecurity infrastructure that covers internal governance, human knowledge and network capabilities. 

The Group employs a best-of-breed Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) technology that enables continuous real-time monitoring of any internal or external cyberattacks. Coupled with its Regional Security Operations Centre, which centrally manages the operational level of system security, the bank’s security specialists can quickly and continuously detect and respond to malicious activities using the Splunk Enterprise Security platform. 

Driven by the surge of digital transactions, Maybank announced in April 2021 that it is discontinuing the SMS TAC (transaction authorisation code) for approving online transactions on both its apps. The bank intends to protect its customers with improved online banking security. Customers will switch to Secure2U as the preferred authorisation method for most transactions, excluding Financial Process Exchange (FPX) and Direct Personnel Expense (DPE). This alternative feature adds an extra layer of protection. Transactions can only be approved within 50 seconds on a registered device using Secure Verification (one-tap authentication) or Secure TAC (a six-digit TAC number generated on the mobile app).  

This new ability creates a safer and more conducive way for customers to transact. At the same time, Maybank Group can build a digital ecosystem that enables safe and secure transactions continuously, fostering digital trust with its users.

Accelerating growth through key partnerships

As non-banking institutions with digital banking licenses flood the market, Maybank Group ensures business competitiveness by engaging in strategic partnerships to introduce new products while enhancing existing offerings. The bank focuses on creating close C-level collaborations with technology disruptors to foster customer stickiness by integrating lifestyle propositions with financial services.  

At a time where customers are increasingly adopting digital products in their lifestyle, Maybank Group joined hands with the ride-hailing company, Grab, to drive the acceptance and ubiquity of cashless payments further. By integrating the two payment systems, customers of Maybank and Grab can choose between using their GrabPay or Maybank QRPay mobile wallets at the merchants they support. Direct cash top-ups on the GrabPay mobile wallet via Maybank2U enrich the online experience between these two digital apps.

The partnership with Grab doesn’t stop there. Maybank Group unveiled a new dual-faced credit card that enables customers to seamlessly collect GrabRewards points that they can then use to redeem vouchers and other rewards. Aiming to serve younger consumers further, the Group also teamed up with an e-commerce powerhouse, Shopee, to offer a lifestyle and e-commerce credit card. Similarly, users obtain rewards - Shopee Coins which they can spend on future online or offline purchases.

The Group also partnered with various property leaders including, UDA Holdings, Tropicana Corp. and i-City to offer “HouzeKEY”, an alternative home financing solution for first-time home buyers. Another partnership with Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) saw the launch of ASNB e-channels on the bank’s platform.  The collaboration enables cross-system transactions and the viewing of account balances via Maybank ATMs or the Maybank2U app. 

Maybank is poised to conquer the fast-growing digital banking space with its wide range of digital products and services, seamlessly integrated into a customer’s everyday life. The Group continues to defend and grow key customer markets in the era of digitalisation without losing sight of its core principle; humanising banking.

The post CELEBRATING SUCCESS : How Maybank is Leading Digital Transformation in Banking Sector appeared first on TM One.

What is Open Banking?

Open banking is undoubtedly a huge leap towards digital transformation for banks globally. To define it, open banking is simply the practice of enabling Third Party Providers (TPPs) to have access to banks’ data through open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). These TPPs range from e-wallets, microloans, FinTechs and many more.

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)

• Broadly categorised into private, partner, and open APIs
• Open API is an application interface that allows access to third-party developers without the need to establish a business relationship with the API publisher

Third-Party Providers (TPPs):

• An authorised online financial service provider
• There are two (2) types of TPPs:
  • Account Information Service Provider (AISP)
    Authorised access to account data provided by financial institutions and banks
  • Payment Initiation Service Provider (PISP)
    Authorised access to initiate payments in and out of a user’s account

How is Open Banking beneficial?

The Open Banking revolution is bringing many new opportunities for innovators to create services and for customers to enjoy these services. The benefits of Open Banking is not just limited to consumers, but it extends to service providers as well.

Benefits to Consumers

i. Hyper-personalisation
Open Banking allows banks to collaborate with FinTechs and businesses from various industries. Data-sharing agreements with FinTechs and other non-financial companies open up the potential to develop new, innovative services as they utilise the vast data available. A more expansive source of data could potentially change the face of more traditional industries such as travel, retailers and insurance.

ii. Enhance the customer-centric approach
Banks gain access to user’s data from other participating financial institutions through Open Banking. This capability gives banks the means to leverage that data and create their integration-based financial offerings. As banks increase their database of customers and curate products accordingly, they are able to strengthen their “customer-centric” approach to business.

Where is Malaysia today in the Open Banking space?

In June 2016, Malaysia’s central bank and principal financial services regulator, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), established a Financial Technology Enabler Group (FTEG) to support innovations within the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) sector. The FTEG plays the role of developing new policies and enhancing existing ones related to the adoption of new technologies in the sector.

Consequently, in 2017, FTEG launched a FinTech Regulatory Sandbox framework to test new and applicable technology, including Open Banking.

In March 2018, BNM made their biggest stride yet by establishing an Open API Implementation Group. This was to develop standards and regulations around open data, security, oversight arrangements for TPP, and rights of access. The group was also accountable to review the existing regulations regarding controls on customer information.

As of 2021, BNM is taking a phased approach towards Open Banking; they are cognisant of the security threats and governance measures that would need to come along with it. The central bank is also welcoming additional proposals from the BFSI, FinTech community and any interested parties that would benefit from standardised open APIs.

What does the future hold for Malaysia and Open Banking?

The Nordics in Europe and the UK are at the forefront of building a world-class Open Banking digital ecosystem. These countries have their framework and API standards in place to facilitate the process. They also have a vast digital infrastructure that enables the widespread use of Open Banking.

The global acceleration of Open Banking will be a catalyst towards Open Banking in Malaysia. Malaysia will be able to learn from the best practices of countries around the world and avoid the mistakes that they may have made while adopting Open Banking. With the right governance, regulations and security checks in place, Malaysia will soon follow suit with these leading countries in implementing Open Banking.

Open Banking will also gain traction in the country, thanks to its rapidly advancing FinTech ecosystem. The FinTech community in Malaysia is hungry for innovation and is also open to collaborating with banks to create new products and services. Moreover, Malaysia is home to the most digital natives in Southeast Asia, with 83% in digital consumers. These modern consumers are imperative in ensuring Open Banking is a success.

The increasing prominence of fintech companies alongside the high digital readiness of consumers proves one valid point - Malaysia has an emerging market with a vibrant digital ecosystem; one that is ripe to accept Open Banking. This digital transformation might just be the right enabler that unlocks opportunities in the banking space, ultimately revolutionising banking itself.

The post DEMYSTIFY TECHNOLOGY : Is Open Banking Set to Revolutionise Financial Services? appeared first on TM One.

As consumers, we seldom have to go to banks now and the banks have come to the consumer’s smartphone. Add to this the plethora of new innovative financial services made available by start-ups and tech giants alike. Consumers are besieged with choices.

Despite all the progress, this is still Day One for the banking industry. The per-capita consumption of financial services in our country and globally is still at low single (3 to 4 services) digits. Financial services are the backbone of every personal life, and every business and industry.

“There are huge opportunities to improve this consumption by taking away points of friction and improving accessibility. TM as a digital enabler to the banking industry, we see there are four (4) distinct innovation opportunities as we look into the next decade”, says Hizam Ghazali, Head of Digital Services, Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM). 

Some of the potential innovative services opportunities are:

#1 Invisible banking

Most of us are not excited about making a trip down to the bank. It is often considered a waste of precious time. Bill Gates famously quoted way back in 1994, “Banking is essential, but banks are not.” The vision is to help us consume banking and financial services without visiting the bank or even transacting over the banking app. Akin to the famous “Intel Inside” campaign, can banks enable us to live better lives but still be invisible, make it so easy to consume that we are not even aware of its existence? The key is to embed the services seamlessly into the existing customer journeys, be it shopping or furthering your education. The more the invisibility, the greater the ease of consumption. It has taken us over two and a half decades to understand the vision that Bill Gates espoused.

#2 Ecosystems

Ecosystems are a way of organising the business to enable a high degree of collaboration between various stakeholders (customers, partners, employees, investors, government). It is a new business model which harnesses the idea of co-creation by the various industry stakeholders. Almost all digital-native businesses that we know such as Google, Amazon and GRAB are examples of the ecosystem in action. Banks have this incredible opportunity to build their own ecosystems as well as become part of others to drive growth. Through the use of Open Banking Application Programmable Interface’s (API’s), banks can now enable third-party fintech companies to access their core banking capabilities and develop innovative products to serve customers. The biggest benefit is the ability to innovate and take new services faster to market. The ecosystem owner focuses on the user experience and relies on the stakeholders to help drive innovation, market outreach and other capabilities. While GRAB started with the Mobility Ecosystem, they saw incredible growth during the pandemic in their Delivery Ecosystem and their future growth agenda is with the Financial Services Ecosystem.

#3 Hyper-personalisation

A critical pillar of differentiation for banks moving forward will be their ability to personalise services for the customers. Open Banking is an enabler for hyper-personalisation. This allows customers to opt-in and allows the bank have oversight of their financial investments across all providers. Then, through the use of big data and Artificial Intelligence (AI), they can be in a good position to generate customer-specific insights and offer very personalised solutions. These personalised solutions can be an aggregation of the bank’s products as well as third-party providers. Enabling this frictionless, personalised user experience has been the strategy adopted by several of today’s banking leaders in response to the competition from big-tech. Offering this at a large scale requires tight integration of technologies and partnerships.

#4 Security

While we saw a massive uptake of digital banking in the last 18 months, it has brought about a huge spike in cybercrime. Banking related phishing attacks have seen a twenty-fold increase in the same period of time. The situation is aggravated as the less digital-savvy population, which is the most vulnerable, starts adopting digital banking services. Banks are responding to this challenge with increased measures to authenticate users and add additional layers of security. These additional security measures are impediments to the greater use of digital banking. We believe there is an opportunity for banks to use some of the latest technologies including biometrics and AI to enable a secure yet frictionless experience.

Research firm, twimbit has estimated that the per capita consumption of financial services is set to explode and reach about 15 to 20 services by the end of the decade. While the competition is intense, there is enough opportunity for all market participants, simply because of the growth in innovation.

“I am excited about how the financial services industry is going to evolve in the coming decade. The convergence between these four (4) innovation opportunities will open a plethora of new possibilities. We are seeing more banks, e-commerce businesses and other financial institutions adopting digital components such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to enhance its daily operations, processes and of course, customer experience. We look forward to partnering with the industry to enable this new vision of possibilities,” Hizam added.

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The banking industry has seen an eruption of change over the past two decades: from cryptocurrency to blockchain, from biometric log-ins to customised services. Afternoons spent lining up at the bank to set up a new account are now only a vague, unpleasant memory.

Digital banking is set to impact individuals and enterprises across the country. GovInsider examines three (3) trends set to transform the banking industry.

Biometrics

Passwords are easily hacked or forgotten, and so are not a very good way of securing bank accounts. Enter a new way of identity authentication: biometrics. These verify customers’ identities with fingerprint scanners or facial recognition technologies, so log-in information can’t be stolen or duplicated.

In 2019, Hong Leong Bank introduced an eToken that allows their corporate and SME customers in Malaysia to authenticate log-ins and approve payments with facial recognition tech. This eliminates the need for a physical token.

The eToken will also be integrated with Hong Leong Bank’s mobile banking app to create a more seamless experience. Customers can confirm transactions with just a “single tap”, according to the bank’s website.

This new service is expected to have a significant impact on customers’ banking experience. In the financial year before the app’s release, Hong Leong Bank processed more than 27 million transactions through its business internet banking platform. More than eight out of ten corporate and SME transactions were completed online.

This initiative was driven by the bank’s commitment to innovate around customer needs and preferences. “The introduction of facial recognition eToken is based on our understanding and insights on customers’ pain points when using a physical dongle and conventional passwords, which can be misplaced or forgotten,” said Yow Kuan Tuck, the bank’s Managing Director, Business Corporate Banking.

Besides using physical biometric features to authenticate log-ins, banks can also use behavioural biometrics to detect potential fraud, wrote BiometricUpdate.com. Banks can study how a customer usually interacts with their account, such as what time they usually log in, and the average value of their transactions.

The behavioural biometrics software alerts security teams on any drastically different behaviours, which may be a sign of a fraudulent transaction. They can decide to block the transaction or ask for additional authentication from the user.

An upside to behavioural biometrics is that there are no privacy concerns, according to BiometricUpdate.com. Each user’s behavioural data is converted to a mathematical representation, which holds no value for criminals.

Personalised services

Could a banking app suggest personalised promotions the way Netflix gives movie recommendations? With transactions moving towards more online, it’s much easier to observe customers’ cashflow, searches, app usage, location and even the demographic variables, wrote Silicon Valley Innovation Center. This information holds precious insights into customer behaviour.

Singapore startup Crayon Data’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) engine allows businesses to suggest updates and services that suit customers’ needs and lifestyle. This helps businesses engage with customers better, which improves response rate, loyalty and frequency of card usage.

Crayon Data focuses on serving lifestyle-related businesses, such as banks, telcos and retailers. These industries have access to multitudes of customer data, but don’t have the ability to make the most out of them, wrote The Business Times.

The startup’s simplified solution analyses banks’ data to create a personalised profile for each customer, based on their preferences. This can be done within a week. Banks can then use this profile to conduct more targeted marketing.

Using blockchain to address cybersecurity concerns

Banks hold reams of sensitive financial data. It’s no wonder that they experience 300 times more cyberattacks than other types of organisations.

Mobile and online applications have made payments easier, but they bring inherent risks. 78 per cent of banks in the Asia Pacific claims that real-time payment platforms have led to more fraud cases, according to a Jumio report. The report highlighted the need for additional identity and authentication technologies.

Additionally, Verizon found that web applications were the number one threat pattern for financial services data breaches in 2018, wrote Codete. Accenture found at least one known security risk in all 30 of the major banking applications it studied.

The most common causes of security vulnerabilities are insecure data storage, insufficient authentication, and direct code tampering, according to Codete. Internet of Things (IoT) presents yet more risks to digital banking. As nations move to become smart and connected societies, the large number of devices will increase the attack avenues for cybercriminals. Protecting these devices is even more urgent given the extensive volumes of personal data they collect, Codete reported.

TM One, Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM)’s enterprise and public sector business arm, uses blockchain to address these cybersecurity issues. Its Blockchain Secure Authentication (BSA) is a new password-less authentication method, allowing users to securely access their online accounts and to securely approve an online transaction over web or mobile. It does not require a password for authentication, simple to use, extremely secure and almost impenetrable solution, represents the next layer of defence in securing online businesses.

Blockchain is a secure way of storing digital information since its records cannot be deleted. TM One has partnered with Korean tech company FNS Value Co to become the sole distributor to rollout BSA in Malaysia and Indonesia, says Thaib Mustafa, Head of Cybersecurity services at TM One.

It is the first patented authentication solution using blockchain technology in the world. BSA provides a secure and trusted access to the web and mobile services – protecting customers’ personal data and information; prevent security breaches, data leakages, ID and Password brute-force credential or digital identity attacks, he added.

The pandemic has accelerated digitisation in all industries, and financial services are no different. Biometrics, personalised services and increased cybersecurity controls are set to bring Malaysia’s banking sector into the future.

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