Axiata Group and RHB Bank today made official their partnership aimed at obtaining a digital bank license from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM). To that end, Axiata subsidiary Boost Holdings Sdn Bhd inked an agreement with RHB to form a consortium to apply for the said license.
Boost Holdings contains Axiata Digital’s fintech businesses, including the Boost e-wallet and the Aspirasi micro-financing platform. It was reported earlier that Axiata was linking up with RHB for a digital banking bid – that is obviously now confirmed.
Subject to BNM’s approval, the planned consortium will see Boost Holdings own a majority stake of 60%, while RHB will take the remaining 40% in the digital bank. Unsurprisingly, Celcom Axiata Berhad will be a major commercial partner on joint Go-To-Market activities with the digital bank on products and services for customers of both companies (Axiata and RHB).
Other commercial partners are apparently being finalised and will be announced later.
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“With Boost Holdings’ fintech expertise and RHB’s track record of compliance, our combined customers can be assured of accessible, convenient and trusted solutions for all of their financial needs. We look forward to offering our over 9 million customers an unbeatable value proposition with a groundbreaking Digital Bank,” said Boost Holdings CEO Sheyantha Abeykoon.
BNM has set the application deadline for a digital bank license to 30 June this year. The granting of up to five licenses is set to be announced by the first quarter of 2022.
Last week, Pertama Digital, a local investment holding company in the govtech and fintech spaces, also announced it would be forming a consortium to apply for a digital bank license.
(Source: Axiata. Text images: Google Street View, Axiata.)
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