- Kuwait Finance House and MoneyMatch are set to pair up to provide speedier and cheaper transfers
- Product will be Syariah, or Sharia, approved for operation in the Islamic country
- "The partnership with MoneyMatch enables our customers to perform cross border payments at an affordable, transparent and swift manner”, says bank head
A fintech firm in Malaysia has announced that it will collaborate with a bank to increase the cross-border payments options available to users in the country.
Firm MoneyMatch will pair up with Kuwait Finance House to create a new online money transfer system which provides fast solutions that are Syariah, or Sharia-compliant, in nature.
Syariah-based finance is a form of banking which is permissible under Islamic law. Syariah is the Malay spelling of “sharia”.
This is the first time that MoneyMatch has offered customers enterprise-level solutions. BankFX, which is the product in question, will aim to reduce the cost of transactions.
It also intends to make the international money transfers process simpler, and to remove some of the speed hurdles in the way.
The BankFX product is compatible with almost 40 currencies around the world. The scope of its functionality is wider, and it can be used in nearly 60 countries around the world.
In a move that echoes the decision of many other providers in this space, BankFX is blockchain-powered.
It also marks a milestone in collaborations between Islamic finance organisations too. This is the first time that an offshore bank has paired up with a fintech firm in Malaysia for this purpose.
According to Adrian Yap, who is the CEO of MoneyMatch, the collaboration will “transform the experience” of those who need to transfer cash.
“We are excited to have KFH Malaysia onboard as our first Bank FX customer. We at MoneyMatch strongly believe that everyone should have access to the best exchange rates regardless of platform”, he said.
“Through this network collaboration with KFH Malaysia, the efforts to transform the experience of cross-border payments for all will be greatly amplified”, he added.
For Kuwait Finance House Malaysia, its Treasury chief treasury officer Norashikin Mohd Kassim argued that the new process would be “transparent and swift”.
“KFH Malaysia is always seeking ways to innovate and grow the Islamic banking landscape in the country. The partnership with MoneyMatch enables our customers to perform cross border payments at an affordable, transparent and swift manner”, she said.
“In addition, this is in-line with the aspiration of Bank Negara Malaysia for financial institutions to provide value added services to customers by leveraging on fintech-based solutions”, she added.
As part of the new launch, customers of Kuwait Finance House will be able to access a 100% service charge discount when making transfers in their native currencies.
The offer must be redeemed on or before August 31st, 2019 and must be processed at a real-world branch of the bank.
Want to find out how Asia’s cross-border payments network is being enhanced by all sorts of innovations like these? Read other articles over at our news pages.
