AEON Bank launches as first Islamic digital bank in Malaysia

• Starting with personal banking services before moving on to small businesses
• Points can be converted to cash and credited to customer’s AEON Bank account

[Ed: Caption edited for accuracy. An earlier version gave the wrong designation for Daisuke Maeda.]

AEON Bank (M) Bhd announced its public launch on 26 May, making its mark as Malaysia’s first Islamic digital bank. It joins GX Bank and Boost-RHB Digital Bank with two other digital banks yet to launch. The KAF Investment Bank consortium and, SEA Ltd-YTL Digital Capital consortium have not launched their services yet.

AEON Bank is starting off with personal banking services such as Savings Account-i, Savings Pots with customisable optimisation features, budgeting tools, with more to come in the future. Users that activate their account will be able to immediately access their virtual AEON Bank x Visa Debit Card-i and request for their own physical Debit Card-i.

“We are deeply humbled and honoured by the trust placed in us to lay the foundations and build Malaysia’s first fully Islamic Digital Bank. This is a significant milestone for AEON Group in Malaysia after 40 years of presence in the country. Our mission is to offer safe, simplified and inclusive Shariah compliant digital banking solutions to all Malaysians. We are in the early phase of our product rollout and will continue to introduce more products and features for our personal banking customers. Over time, we will expand our products and services to small businesses," said Raja Teh Maimunah, CEO of AEON Bank.

Exclusively for the public launch campaign, AEON Bank customers that activate their account will be entitled to a sign-up bonus of 3,000 AEON Points and 3X AEON Points with transactions using the AEON Bank x Visa Debit Card-i, on top of the profit rate of 3.88% per annum.

Additionally, customers that are part of the AEON Points Programme will automatically have their membership linked with the AEON Bank app, which will enable them to enjoy extra benefits and rewards when they make payments at AEON Group’s outlets and merchants, including AEON Mall, AEON Supermarket, AEON Wellness, La Boheme Bakery, AEON Fantasy, and more; adding another layer of value and convenience for customers via the larger and comprehensive AEON ecosystem. The collected AEON points can then be converted to cash that will be credited in the customer’s AEON Bank account.

AEON Bank is expected to engage more than 10,000 AEON members and consumers via on-ground activation for the duration of the launch up till 2 June. Nationwide roadshows will run in Kelantan, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Penang, Negeri Sembilan, Perak, Melaka, and Sarawak from June till November 2024.

The public launch took place at AEON Mall Shah Alam, with Johan Mahmood Merican, Secretary General of Treasury, Ministry of Finance as guest of honor. AEON leaders in attendance included Naoya Okada, MD of AEON Co. (M) Bhd; Shunsuke Shirakawa, Chairman of AEON Financial Service Co, Ltd, Japan; Mitsugu Tamai, Director and Managing Executive Officer of AEON Financial Service Co, Ltd, Japan; Daisuke Maeda, MD, AEON Credit Service (M) Bhd; and Tomokatsu Yoshitoshi, Chairman and Independent Non-Executive Director of AEON Bank (M) Bhd.