Securities Commission Malaysia’s annual fintech conference returns for the sixth year

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) is hosting the sixth edition of its SCxSC Fintech Conference to scale up the local fintech industry, which has recently seen the entrance of new players following the regulator’s move to broaden the opportunities for under-served segments such as micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and new generation of investors to raise capital or achieve their financial goals.

Since 2014, the SCxSC has served as a platform for policy makers, innovators, investors and financial services providers to converge and advance greater innovation in finance through the use of technology. The local fintech industry is now home to alternative market-based financing platforms such as Equity Crowdfunding (ECF) and Peer-to-Peer financing (P2P) as well as a diverse range of fintech players including digital investment managers, digital asset exchanges and property crowdfunding operator. There are currently 21 ECF and P2P platforms registered with the SC, which have collectively raised RM587 million for more than 1600 MSMEs.

“We are pleased to note that these platforms continue to serve a number of MSME sectors including high tech, education, retail, F&B and consumer product; and have attracted many new investors especially young investors aged 35 and below,” said Datuk Syed Zaid Albar, Chairman of the SC.

He also highlighted that the government has, under Budget 2020, allocated RM50 million to the Malaysia Co-Investment Fund (MyCIF) to help finance start-ups and SMEs by co-investing on a one-to-four basis in campaigns listed on ECF and P2P platforms. A further RM10 million has been allocated to MyCIF under Budget 2020 specifically for social enterprises to raise funds via P2P financing platforms.

“We expect this injection of funds to further spur the growth of our ECF and P2P financing industry, which in turn could catalyse growth in Malaysian MSMEs by providing access to alternative sources of financing,” Datuk Syed Zaid added.

This year’s SCxSC 2019 attracted more than 800 participants who benefitted from a global line-up of fintech experts such as Eli Broverman, co-founder of the world’s first robo-adviser Betterment, and Jeffrey Cruttenden, co-founder of leading spare change investment platform Acorns. Other topics discussed at the two-day event, which ends tomorrow, include Fintech entrepreneurship, digital identity verification, digital assets, Islamic fintech, and Artificial Intelligence in cybersecurity.

SCxSC Fintech Conference 2019 is supported by Rakuten Trade, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and Permodalan Nasional Berhad. For more information and programme of SCxSC Fintech Conference, the public may visit scxsc.my for livestream and videos of selected sessions.

Copyright Press Releases 2019