Malaysia Digital Bank License

With Hong Kong and Singapore having accelerated the issuance of their digital banks licenses, is Malaysia’s foray into the space a bit slow?

Based on this week’s announcement by Bank Negara, digital bank licenses will be issued only by the first quarter of 2022. The concern is would the Malaysian digital bank landscape have lost ground by then? Globally, digital banks are already in advance stages of operations.

To be sure, setting the rules right on the onset for digital banking is of utmost importance. It involves the main artery of the economy, namely the banking system. Perhaps this is why Malaysia’s central bank is not rushing the matter.

On Thursday, Bank Negara issued a policy document on licensing framework for digital banks following a six-month public consultation.

Bank Negara said the licensing framework for digital banks aims to enable the innovative application of technology to uplift the financial well-being of individuals and businesses and foster sustainable growth.

This includes expanding meaningful access to and promoting responsible usage of suitable financial solutions to the unserved and underserved segments.

The framework adopts a balanced approach to enable admission of digital banks with strong value propositions while safeguarding the integrity and stability of the financial system, as well as depositors’ interests.

To achieve these outcomes, a simplified regulatory framework will be applied to digital banks during the initial stage of operations, commensurate with an asset threshold of not more than RM3bil for three to five years.

Submission of applications to conduct digital banking business or Islamic digital banking business shall be made to the Bank no later than June 30,2021.

Up to five licenses may be issued to qualified applicants. Notification on the grant of license will be made by the first quarter of 2022, Bank Negara said.

It does seem that the central bank is on the right track with ensuring only the most qualified applicants get to run digital banks.

That said, one wonders how the digital banking space will grow globally and whether Malaysian licenses could have lost any ground by 2022.

Apple Implement New Privacy Labels

Good News. 

With this features, we (Apple product user) will have got an idea on how such mobile apps used our data and privacy within their apps. We could be much aware what were running on the background of any apps. This is good. It support PDPA (personal data protection act).

Earlier this year at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced that it was planning to add privacy labels to apps in its App Store. Developers had until earlier this month to provide Apple with information about what kind of tracking the software would do once users download and start using it. Now, with the release of iOS 14.3, those labels have started rolling out—and they may shed some interesting light on how some of your favorite apps keep tabs on what you do.

The labels aren’t specific to the iOS store. They’re in place on every platform, including macOS, tvOS, and watchOS. To view them, visit an app page and scroll down to the section labeled App Privacy.

In the labels, Apple provides information on three different types of data collection, as well as what the company plans to do with that info once it’s collected.

Data used to track you: This is the information the app collects in order to monitor what you do outside of the app itself. Facebook, for instance, uses your user ID and device ID in order to keep track of some activities you perform on your device, even outside the confines of Facebook itself. This applies to a user ID or a device ID and allows companies to build more complete profiles of you.

Data linked to you: This is likely where you’ll find the most entries, because it’s a large part of what allows apps and companies to target you with advertising. If you’ve ever searched for “gloves” on your phone and gotten bombarded with advertisements for gloves online, this kind of tracking is why. You’ll see terms like “Third-Party Advertising,” and “Developer’s Advertising or Marketing,” which are specific to commerce. You’ll also find terms like “Analytics,” and “Product Personalization,” which are more about tweaking the app’s functionality to your specific usage.

Data not linked to you: Not all tracking is about learning your specific habits. Some apps collect anonymous data that isn’t linked to your specific account or device. For instance, an app may want to track usage patterns by collecting anonymous location data from devices on the service.

When you see these privacy notifications pop up in the App Store, it’s important to remember that these practices aren’t new. It can be sobering to scroll through the massive list of things Facebook tracks when you download the app, but it has been that way for quite some time. The labels are just making users slightly more aware of it.