PETALING JAYA: AEON Credit Service (M) Bhd has cleared a key hurdle to operate its new Islamic digital bank after the ministry of finance (MoF) relaxed its equity condition to have at least a 30% stake reserved for Malaysians.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, AEON Credit said the MoF gave its approval for its parent, Japan-based AEON Financial Service Co Ltd (AFS), to hold an 80.75% stake in the new digital bank.
AEON Credit, AFS and US-based fintech firm MoneyLion Inc led a consortium that won one of the five digital banking licences from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).
MoneyLion subsequently pulled out after the licence was awarded, leaving AEON Credit and AFS to form ACS Digital Bhd (ACSD), the Islamic digital bank entity with equal shareholdings of 50% each.
Given that AFS owns 61.5% of AEON Credit, this translates into an 80.75% effective equity interest in ACSD.
BNM also approved the proposed shareholding structure for ACSD, with AEON Credit and AFS having equal proportions of 50%.
According to an earlier AEON Credit circular to shareholders, ACSD is given up to five years to identify new Malaysian shareholders, to fulfil MoF’s equity condition to have at least a 30% stake by Malaysians, with priority given to bumiputera shareholders.
In April 2022, BNM announced the five successful parties awarded the digital bank licences as approved by MoF. The other consortiums were Boost Holdings Sdn Bhd and RHB Bank Bhd; GXS Bank Pte Ltd and Kuok Brothers Sdn Bhd; Sea Limited and YTL Digital Capital Sdn Bhd; and a consortium led by KAF Investment Bank Sdn Bhd for an Islamic digital bank.
At the midday-break, AEON Credit’s shares were 2 sen or 0.2% higher at RM11.40, giving it a market capitalisation of RM2.91 billion. - FMT
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