KUALA LUMPUR, 21 APRIL 2020 – With the extension of the movement control order (MCO) in Malaysia, financial institutions need to find new, innovative ideas to assist individuals affected by COVID-19. Recently, Sedania As Salam Capital in collaboration with Curlec established the As-Sidq Al-thiqa feature on Assidq.com, a Direct Debit e-Mandate registration service to help both financial institutions and their customers, at this critical time.
As-Sidq Al-thiqa is an automatic e-mandate enrolment from a salary account on Assidq.com. This is an online marketplace for Islamic personal finance products that facilitates the customer’s Islamic financial needs, through a personalised profile assessment. This enrolment allows for a structured repayment commitment, substantiated with payment instructions, linked directly to a customer’s salary account, upon approval. At the same time, Curlec offers the solution for collecting Direct Debit & FPX payments online, allowing businesses to be in control of when they get paid.
In the current climate filled with uncertainties, financial institutions may have to deal with the repayment risks of borrowers. Utilising the As-Sidq Al-thiqa system helps improve this, as it uses the direct debit from a customer’s salary account. Ultimately, the immediate benefit to financial institutions is better management of the repayment process with no risk of delays, as opposed to the traditional methods. For a local financial marketplace, this is the first to incorporate such a feature to manage the consumer segment.
As-Sidq Al-thiqa may also be the additional option to be included by financial institutions, as a repayment method in personal financing applications. Right now, the options are auto debit and direct debit. Concurrently, As-Sidq Al-thiqa offers a digital solution for customers, who need financing, but face problems because of their poor credit profile score. This seamless solution increases customers’ chances of approval by banks or any other financial institution.
“We are delighted at the opportunity to collaborate with Sedania As-Salam to increase the access of consumers to financing products by positively influencing their repayment capabilities through Direct Debit. With the As-Sidq Al-thiqa initiative, users will find the process of purchasing a financing product as well as setting up the repayment of the loan to be a seamless and efficient one, modernising what previously was a difficult and cumbersome activity,” said Danial Yusli, Director of Sales, Curlec.
“When we thought about consumers during these challenging times, we realised we have to do more to create value for them, as well as for our Financial Institution partners,” said Nisa Ismail, Chief Executive Officer, Sedania As Salam Capital. “We wanted to find ways to improve the approval rates and the timeliness of the process, for this key consumer segment. We are excited to announce As-Sidq Al-thiqa, which means confidence in Arabic, a feature that allows consumers to demonstrate to our financial institution partners, their commitment in making the monthly payments of their financing requirements.”
“To improve the cost efficiency in acquisition, we will ensure that we only recommend applicants who are free from any critical credit report flags. This is our way to show partners that we are with them for the long run, helping them innovate quickly through our services and offerings.”, she said.
To put this into effect, financial institutions need to sign up with Assidq.com and include this feature on the platform. Once it signs on, the institution can offer selected customers with this option, where the customer then will have to consent to the As-Sidq Al-thiqa enrolment via an online form. Following that, the monthly deductions will be carried out seamlessly from the customer’s salary account.
About Sedania As Salam Capital Sdn Bhd
Sedania As Salam Capital Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sedania Innovator Berhad, is an Islamic Fintech company in Malaysia with their core product namely branded as “As-Sidq” an Islamic Financial Tawarruq Trading System – providing a (patented) commodity trading Platform to facilitate banking transaction. The platform uses telecommunications airtime credit as a trading commodity, which makes the trades more accurate, function in real time and independent of Bursa Malaysia. The system has been adopted by more than 55 financial institutions in the country and is the only company in the region that uses digital commodities for financing.
Sedania As Salam also operates Assidq.com, an online marketplace for Islamic personal finance products that facilitates the customer’s Islamic financial needs through a personalised profile check with fast approval and disbursements. AsSidq.com’s partners offer a wide variety of Islamic finance products such as personal financing and credit cards to help customers find the best Islamic finance solution for them. With more than 50 Islamic financial institution partners and counting, Assidq.com’s core mission is to help customers find the perfect Islamic financial product and deliver it to them in the shortest time possible.
About Curlec
Curlec is a VC-backed FinTech company that makes it easy for businesses of all sizes to collect recurring payments. It is a simple solution for collecting Direct Debit & FPX payments online, allowing businesses to be in control of when they get paid.
Curlec facilitates transactions by intermediating between Buyers, Sellers and their Banks, making the process of administering bank-to-bank payments incredibly easy.
The company was founded in 2017 with the vision of providing the Direct Debit payment system to SMEs that have been traditionally underserved by banks.
Curlec is the first independent software company in Malaysia to process online interbank Direct Debit transactions and is named as Malaysia’s Best FinTech Startup at the Rice Bowl Startup Awards 2019.