The financial services professionals are urged to cultivate and inculcate in the spirit of social responsibility and self-regulation for a culture of protection, compliance and risk management, among themselves and with the regulators.
“We are at the forefront as well as at the battlefront of the possibilities and challenges of FinTech. The Financial Services Professional Board (FSPB) is an industry-driven body enjoined to play that role in Malaysia’s financial services industry along with other similar bodies, said by FSPB Chairman, Tan Sri Dr Mohd Munir Abdul Majid at the opening of The Business Ethics Conference 2018 in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Munir noted that Malaysia is at the forefront in Asean in embracing FinTech.
“Our regulators have not been far behind the developments that have been taking place. Malaysia is the first country to enact equity crowdfunding regulations. At the end of 2017, there were 450 campaigns funded on this platform with close to RM50 million raised. Bank Negara Malaysia has introduced the regulatory sandbox which aims to encourage innovation in financial services by allowing regulated financial institutions and startups to experiment with FinTech solutions in a production or live environment subject to appropriate safeguards and regulatory requirements.”
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Entitled: ‘Fintech: Business Benefits and Conduct Challenges,’ this was the second business ethics conference, organised jointly by the Asian Institute of Finance (AIF) and the Financial Services Professional Board (FSPB). The event was officiated
Munir commented, “We’re now entering a world where data rather than cash is king. Because of this we must ensure that ethical and professional conduct are equally observed in the fast-moving FinTech environment, just as they must be observed in the conventional financial services industry."
The event brought together an impressive array of FinTech experts from Asia and around the world. Keynote Speakers were: Mr R.A. Farrokhnia, Faculty & Founding Executive Director, Advanced Projects and Applied Research in FinTech, Columbia Business School, U.S.A.; Mr Anselmo Teng, Former Chairman, Monetary Authority of Macao; and Mr Huy Nguyen Trieu, Chief Executive Officer, The Disruptive Group, UK, Co-founder, Centre for Finance Technology and Entrepreneurship (CFTE).
Dr Raymond Madden, AIF Chief Executive Officer, said, “As FinTech evolves, so does the need to discuss the ethical challenges involved in raising professional standards within this vital area of financial services. We hope the conference will serve as both a conversation starter and catalyst for increased debate around this very important issue.”
Around 200 participants attended the conference, held at Sasana Kijang, Kuala Lumpur. These included senior executives from government agencies, financial services, technology and other industries across Malaysia as well as overseas.
