Maybank Sees ASEAN As Next Growth Area For Tech Start-Ups

KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 (Bernama) -- Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) is confident ASEAN will be the next growth area for technology start-ups as more businesses seek to expand their digital presence and grow their revenue by using non-traditional channels. In a statement Thursday, Maybank said this will also be boosted by the increasing interest among financial institutions and venture capital companies to fund tech start-ups. Its Group Chief Strategy Officer, Michael Foong, said this was evident by the overwhelming response of ASEAN tech start-ups which participated in the MaybankFintech programme. MaybankFintech is the first of its kind programme by a bank in South-East Asia which seeks to support start-ups to generate ideas in the financial technology sphere. Foong said global investment in Fintech ventures has tripled from around US$4.05 billion (RM15.41 billion) in 2013 to nearly US$12.2 billion (RM46.41 billion) in 2014. During the same period, he said, investments in Asia-Pacific Fintech ventures had also more than tripled, from US$245 million (RM932.1 million) in 2013 to US$767 million (RM2.92 billion) in 2014. "We are now seeing increasing openness among venture capital firms and banks in this region to listen to these start-ups and support them, given that these companies themselves stand to benefit should the start-ups succeed with their projects. "We want to be a central member of the Fintech community in the region, to help grow and support entrepreneurs, by providing them with an avenue to connect directly with the financial industry," he said. --BERNAMA