Fintech Association of Malaysia picks new committee

• Wilson Beh, former VP ascends to president role
• To strengthen its five core pillars, sets up industry verticals

The Fintech Association of Malaysia (FAOM), the national platform and a key enabler for the facilitation of Malaysia’s endeavour to becoming a leading regional hub for Fintech innovation and investment, hosted its fifth Annual Grand Meeting (AGM) recently, and has elected a new cohort of committee members for its 2022/2023 term.

Wilson Beh, the outgoing vice president of FAOM for the 2021/22 term, has been elected as the new president of FAOM.

Beh a representative of PolicyStreet, claimed to be the first homegrown Fintech start-up founder elected as the president and notably, he has been involved in growing the association as a founding member since 2016, FOAM said.

“It’s an honour to receive the torch from our outgoing president, Karen Puah, who has grown the association to greater heights with the past committee," said Beh.

“As one of the early Fintech adopters, I’m encouraged to see that the industry has reached a tipping point with a relatively broad Fintech adoption, further catalysed by industry milestones such as the release of digital banking licenses and the launch of the BNM Financial Sector Blueprint 2022-2026.”

FOAM said the newly elected president will be joined by a dynamic and experienced executive committee (ExCo) representing the multi facets of the industry namely:

• Farah Jaafar, representative of Fusang as vice president;
• Jonathan Lim, representative of Zaid Ibrahim & Co as secretary; and
• Anil Singh, representative of Silverlake Axis as treasurer.

In addition, the meeting also elected the following committee members to support the ExCo, namely:

• Arvin Singh, representative of Hoolah;
• Calvin Foo, representative of Fundaztic;
• Eddy Wong, representative of VSure.life;
• Lee Chee Seng, representative of Microsoft;
• Marc Fong, representative of FWD Insurance;
• Mukesh Dhawan, representative of Drivn Fintech; and
• Naoto Nomura, representative of AEON Credit Service.

The AGM agreed to continue to strengthen its five core pillars, namely talent development, investment facilitation, market entry and expansion, technology adoption and regulatory awareness towards facilitating the growth in digital and fintech adoption in Malaysia.  

FAOM has also  established industry verticals helmed by respective committee members, anchoring key pillars in the growth of fintech in Malaysia.

This include digital banking and Islamic banking; digital assets and blockchain; digital insurance; payments; regulatory tech (RegTech); alternative financing; technology enablers (artificial inteligence big data, cloud).

Specialised working groups will be set up to provide a cohesive platform for engagement between industry, development authorities such as Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and national regulators.

In addition, the committee will also focus on growing regional links with other associations and partners, towards greater benefiting cross jurisdictional industry linkages and in tandem enhance the recognition of the Malaysian fintech industry generally.