Malaysia-based Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad (Kenanga) has partnered with China-based Ant Group to develop Malaysia’s first wealth super app.

Kenanga said in a statement on Wednesday that both parties have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the partnership, and under the MOU, Kenanga will leverage mPaaS, a mobile development platform from Ant Group’s digital technology unit, to launch the super app.

According to the statement, the super app is geared to revolutionise how Malaysians approach wealth generation and management, by integrating a suite of financial solutions, such as stock trading, digital investment management, e-wallet, crypto trading and foreign currency exchange, onto a single platform and ecosystem.

“Having spent the year conceptualising and designing the super app, we are thrilled to partner with Ant Group, a globally recognised and experienced infrastructure and platform provider, to develop this platform and bring it to life,” said Chay Wai Leong, Group Managing Director, Kenanga Investment Bank.

“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 democratising financial services for the millions of Malaysians around the country who want better, swifter and cheaper access to financial products and solutions,” he said.

With almost 50 years of retail experience serving over half a million customers, he believes the Kenanga wealth super app will leapfrog the group’s growth to the next level.

“We started our digital journey five years ago, and have a robust digital product pipeline that is set to reshape our relationship with our customers and harness opportunities in the marketplace,” he added.

Established for more than 45 years, Kenanga is a financial group in Malaysia with extensive experience in equity broking, investment banking, treasury, Islamic banking, listed derivatives, investment management, wealth management, structured lending and trade financing with strong foundations in regulatory compliance and risk management.

“We have been committed to supporting our customers to deliver faster, more reliable, and more convenient services to their end users,” said Geoff Jiang, President of Ant Group’s Digital Technology Business Group.

“Adopted by many businesses to build new apps and optimise the performance of existing apps, our financial-grade mPaaS mobile development platform is
well-positioned to support Kenanga in integrating a wide range of products and services to its super app,” he added.

Ant Group’s digital technology unit develops a full range of digital solutions in the fields of blockchain, privacy computing, security technologies, and distributed database.

The company is committed to enabling and reinforcing trust for participants in the digital economy, including consumers, businesses, and partners. It also aims to build the infrastructure and platforms to support the digital transformation of the service industry.

The development of this super app extends the portfolio of digital products that Kenanga has successfully rolled out, from Rakuten Trade, Malaysia’s fastest growing online stock trading platform, to Kenanga Digital Investing, a robo-advisor that has amassed over MYR250 million ($55.78 million) in asset under management in six months.

Ant Group to become major shareholder of Singapore payment firm 2C2P