Maybank Islamic Bhd, the Islamic banking arm of Malaysia’s lender Maybank Group, has appointed Standard Chartered backed technology solutions provider audax Financial Technology (audax) as its strategic partner to spearhead the digital transformation of its banking services.

This collaboration will deliver modern, customer-centric digital banking solutions built on global cloud services provider Amazon Web Services (AWS) with its first product to launch in 2025, Maybank said in a statement on Tuesday.

According to the statement, this collaboration underscores audax’s pivotal role in shaping the future of digital Islamic banking.

As the technology partner, audax is now bringing its expertise to Maybank Islamic, with the goal of enabling Maybank Islamic to redefine customer experiences across its key markets including Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines through innovative, inclusive, and Shariah-compliant digital banking solutions.

Audax will enable Maybank Islamic to deliver a full suite of Islamic financial products via seamless digital channels.

These include paperless, real-time onboarding, efficient account management, and instant access to digital banking services.

Powered by AWS’s secure and scalable cloud infrastructure, audax’s platform ensures rapid, reliable, and secure deployment.

This solution not only meets customer needs with agility, but also enables compliance with Islamic finance principles, reinforcing audax’s commitment to delivering inclusive and innovative banking solutions at scale.

It is noted that audax’s scalable, cloud-native platform is designed to empower other banks and financial institutions in the region to better serve their customers.

The global Islamic finance market is projected to reach $4.94 trillion by 2025, with Southeast Asia contributing 22 percent of the world’s Islamic financial assets.

By leveraging audax’s expertise, Maybank Islamic is poised to not only enhance its capabilities but also set the stage for future advancements in Islamic banking across ASEAN and beyond.

“This collaboration with Maybank Islamic underscores our commitment to driving digital transformation in Islamic banking, and banking as a whole. audax’s platform will enable Maybank Islamic to deliver transformative customer experiences, ensuring they remain a leader in the rapidly evolving Islamic finance landscape,” said Kelvin Tan, Chief Executive Officer of audax.

Meanwhile, Maybank Islamic Chief Executive Officer Muzaffar Hisham said partnering with audax and AWS marks a significant milestone in the firm’s journey to build global Islamic banking leadership.

“This collaboration underscores our commitment to delivering customer-first solutions that are seamless, inclusive, and fully compliant with Islamic finance principles, in line with Maybank’s M25+ strategy,

“We are confident that audax’s expertise and AWS’s secure cloud infrastructure will empower us to better serve our customers and drive growth across Southeast Asia’s rapidly expanding Islamic finance sector,” he added.

Peter Murray, Country General Manager for Malaysia and Asia Emerging Markets at AWS, said AWS is the only global cloud service provider to have launched infrastructure regions in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand in ASEAN.

“Leveraging this unparalleled investment in Southeast Asia, Maybank Islamic can now offer services that anticipate their end customer needs, continuously optimize operational performance, and deliver innovative, cutting-edge Islamic banking services that are secure, scalable, and customer-centric,

“Working in partnership with industry leading partners like audax, who deliver the building blocks of future finance, we are committed to helping Maybank Islamic redefine Islamic banking as a global leader and democratize financial access across ASEAN,” he added.

Audax is a digital banking solutions provider empowering banks and financial institutions to scale and modernize at speed.

The firm has enabled new business models and revenue streams for Standard Chartered under the SC nexus proposition, becoming the first global bank to provide banking-as-a-service in Asia.

Maybank Islamic is the largest Islamic bank in Asia Pacific, spearheading the Islamic banking and finance industry through cross-border business, regional leadership in retail and investment banking in Southeast Asia.

Its portfolio of diversified products and services are available through a network of over 350 Maybank branches in Malaysia, as well as in Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, London and Dubai.

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