The crypto-friendly super app from Kenanga is anticipated to debut in early 2023 and will offer services like digital investment management, e-wallet, FX, stock trading, and others.
As one of the major local banks integrates cryptocurrency trading into its standard banking offerings, Malaysia’s adoption of cryptocurrencies continues to pick up speed.
With more than 500,000 clients, one of the biggest private investment banks, Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad, has teamed up with Chinese tech giant Ant Group to introduce a cryptocurrency-friendly wallet and trading app.
A statement on Wednesday claimed that Kenanga and Ant had signed a memorandum of understanding to work together to create Malaysia’s super app for wealth management. According to the terms of the contract, mPaaS, a mobile development platform originating from AliPay App, will be made available to Kenanga by Ant’s digital technology division.
Our financial-grade mPaaS mobile development platform, which is used by many companies to create new apps and improve the performance of existing apps, is in a good position to help Kenanga integrate a variety of goods and services into its SuperApp, according to Ant’s digital tech president Geoff Jiang.
By combining various financial services like stock trading, digital investment management, cryptocurrency trading, digital wallets, foreign exchange, and others into a single platform, the super app is intended to revolutionize the way wealth is managed in Malaysia. The app will reportedly debut in early 2023, according to Kenanga.
Kenanga Group managing director Datuk Chay Wai Leong said, “We look forward to not only bringing a wide range of financial offerings under one roof, but more importantly, to democratizing financial services for the millions of Malaysians and making wealth creation more accessible.”
He added that the new application would propel the development of Kenanga, which had been experimenting with digital financial services for five years. Kenanga has been a prominent player in the cryptocurrency sector, investing in regional cryptocurrency exchange operators like Tokenize Technology in 2021, as was previously reported.
The Malaysian local online stock trading platform Rakuten Trade is provided by Kenanga, a well-known partner of the Japanese retail company Rakuten that supports cryptocurrencies.
Malaysia has recently seen some activity in the cryptocurrency sector, with local officials reportedly urging the government to legalize cryptocurrencies in March 2022. Although trading and investing in cryptocurrencies are legal in Malaysia, the idea of making them legal tender was resisted by the government.