KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 11): Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) aims to announce the winners of its digital banking licences next month, said governor Tan Sri Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus.
“We are in the ‘advanced stage’ of assessing the applications for digital banks and we target to announce the digital banks with the publication of our annual report at the end of March,” she said during the central bank's fourth quarter of 2021 gross domestic product (4Q21 GDP) briefing on Friday (Feb 11).
She added that BNM had received 29 applications and as it intends to license a maximum of five, it needs to thoroughly evaluate each and every single application.
She noted that the central bank wants the digital banks to offer relevant products and services to the unserved and underserved segments, so that more people and entrepreneurs can better own assets and save for the future or to grow their businesses.
“We also expect the entry of these digital banks to accelerate the digitalisation of our incumbent banks. This will be good not just for the industry, but also for all of us here as customers of the incumbent banks,” she explained.
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