By
Chimamanda U. Martha
September 18th, 2023
The development of this SuperApp extends the portfolio of digital products that Kenanga has successfully rolled out.
Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad has entered into a partnership agreement with China’s Ant Group, to launch Malaysia’s first Wealth SuperApp. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on August 24, which will see Kenanga leverage mPaaS, a mobile development technology platform from Ant Group’s digital technology unit, to launch the crypto-friendly and trading app dubbed the ‘SuperApp.’
mPaas will provide a one-stop solution for mobile development, testing, operation, and maintenance and originates from AliPay App.
Kenanga said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia that “the collaboration between Kenanga and AntChain serves to ease and expedite the development of the SuperApp Platform by leveraging Ant Group’s extensive experience in modern technologies and platforms.”
The SuperApp aims to revolutionize the way wealth is managed in Malaysia and was designed to integrate several financial services such as stock trading, digital investment management, cryptocurrency trading, digital wallets, foreign exchange, and others into a single platform. The app will reportedly debut in early 2023, according to Kenanga.
Datuk Chay Wai Leong, the managing director of Kenanga Group, stated, “We look forward to not only unifying a broad spectrum of financial offerings under one roof but more importantly, to make wealth creation more accessible by democratizing financial services for the millions of Malaysians around the country who want better, swifter and cheaper access to financial products and solutions.”
Leong added that the new application would propel the development of Kenanga, and take its growth to the next level. Leong also stated that the firm has almost 50 years of retail experience and had been experimenting with digital financial services five years ago.
Kenanga has been a prominent investor in the cryptocurrency sector, and according to reports, the company invested in regional cryptocurrency exchange operators like Tokenize Technology in 2021.
“We have a robust digital product pipeline that is set to reshape our relationship with our customers and harness opportunities in the marketplace,” Leong stated.
The development of this SuperApp extends the portfolio of digital products that Kenanga has successfully rolled out, which includes Rakuten Trade, Malaysia’s fastest-growing online stock trading platform, and Kenanga Digital Investing, a robo-advisor that has amassed over RM250 million in AUM in six months.
The digital technology division of Ant Group creates a wide range of digital products in the fields of blockchain, privacy computing, security technologies, and distributed databases.
Malaysia’s crypto sector has recently witnessed an increase in activity, with local officials urging the government to legalize cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFT) in March 2022.
Although trading and investing in cryptocurrencies are legal in Malaysia, the concept of making them legal tender was rejected by the government. Regardless of that decision, the country’s crypto sector saw a rise in the trade of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, and EOS as compared to other altcoins.