Attributed to Dylan Tan, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Split
Kuala Lumpur, 6th July 2021 - Over the last year, the ongoing pandemic has undoubtedly reshaped consumer behaviour and the retail sector. Financial uncertainties and cost-cutting on multiple fronts have necessitated wiser budgeting habits and more cautious spending among consumers, causing the retail industry to react accordingly to this major shift. Due to that, the emergence of Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) in Malaysia around the same time as the COVID-19 pandemic is regarded by many as a timely and indispensable tool with which businesses can maintain sustainable growth in this trying period.
With global BNPL transaction volumes set to surge from USD 285 billion in 2018 to USD 680 billion in 2025 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.23%, it is not surprising to see many retailers in Malaysia already adopting this more convenient, alternative payment method. Allowing customers to make purchases and paying them off over time in interest-free instalments, BNPL enables consumers to manage their budgets when making purchases while opening up a massive new segment of customers for merchants, particularly young millennials with fixed budgets and those who do not own credit cards.
Kuala Lumpur, 6 July 2021 – Bursa Malaysia Berhad (“Bursa Malaysia” or the “Exchange”) and FTSE Russell, a leading global index provider, today launched the FTSE4Good Bursa Malaysia Shariah (“F4GBMS”) index. This new Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) themed index is designed to track constituents in the FTSE4Good Bursa Malaysia Index (“F4GBM”) that are Shariah-compliant, according to the Securities Commission Malaysia
Shariah Advisory Council (SAC) screening methodology.
The composition of the index, which comprises 54 constituents as of June 2021, is reviewed semi-annually in June and December. The F4GBMS index will serve as a basis for fund managers to develop new investment products comprising a portfolio of shariah-compliant equities guided by sustainable investing principles. Such investment solutions include the ESG Mustadamah Fund created by MIDF Asset Management launched in June 2021.
06 July 2021
Gen Z and Gen X in Southeast Asia (SEA) are less afraid about future technologies such as biometrics, smart appliances, robotic devices and deepfakes while Millennials and Boomers have their guards up. These are some more key findings from Kaspersky’s research “Making Sense of Our Place in the Digital Reputation Economy”.
The research conducted just last November 2020 asked 831 social media users in SEA about their level of fear against the current technological trends and found out that more than half (62%) are afraid of deepfakes. It is highest among Baby Boomers (74%) and lowest among Gen X (58%).
