Shortly after Ryt Bank revealed details of its upcoming AI-powered digital banking service, Malaysia’s last remaining digital bank has finally showed some signs of activity. KAF Digital Bank, an Islamic digital bank led by KAF Investment Bank together with Carsome, MoneyMatch, Jirnexu and StoreHub, has kicked off a pilot beta programme called “Perintis Phase” by ONZ Banking.
According to KAF’s official website, they are currently inviting users to register their interest for the beta programme and users can earn points which can be redeemed for rewards.
ONZ Banking or KAF Digital Bank?
Currently, it isn’t clear if ONZ Banking is just the campaign name for the pilot phase or it is the actual product name for its consumer digital banking service.
While onzbanking.com is the official presence on the web for KAF Digital Bank’s consumer offering, its mobile application is simply branded as KAF. If you want to give it a try, the banking app is currently available for download on both Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Strangely, ONZ Banking is not mentioned at all on the app itself.
The app store listing reveals that KAF will be offering Shariah-compliant Qard Savings Account-i along with Visa Virtual Debit Card-i. For QR payments, it also supports DuitNow QR along with DuitNow ID transfers.
Based on a recent KAF Digital Bank video published on KAF Group’s YouTube channel, a physical debit card will be offered as well.
It is mentioned that KAF’s Qard Savings Account-i will be offered with either a Basic Plus Tier and a Premium Tier. The Basic Plus Tier provides customers the ability to pay online bills, spend using Visa Virtual Debit-Card-i, make DuitNow QR payments, and earn and redeem loyalty points through their loyalty program with POD Savings.
The higher Premium Tier provides extra upgrades and benefits which include a higher daily spending limit of RM50,000 and annual debit card fee waiver. It is listed that the tier upgrade can be done easily with your bank statements.
Similar to other digital banks, KAF is also a member of PIDM which provides depositors protection of up to RM250,000.
KAF Digital Bank App is still not ready for public sign up
At the moment, the KAF digital banking app doesn’t seem to offer much for new users except for registering your interest when you tap on the Sign up button. First impression wise, the app is still very rough around the edges as it displays a mixture of BM and English on the same screen while the intro screen images appear to be slightly stretched.
Compared to other digital bank apps such as GXBank, Aeon Bank and Boost Bank, the UI of KAF Digital Bank app could be improved further for a slicker and simplified design.
What do you get for being a beta tester for a banking app?
What’s not so convincing is that the lack of extra details for the registration of interest of the Perintis Phase. Besides the lack of any mention of ONZ Banking, KAF has yet to reveal its profit rate for its Savings Account during its closed beta phase.
In the FAQ, it is stated that the “announcement of selected participants for pre-released versions of the products (beta testing) is scheduled for DD/MM/YYYY“. Yup, that’s a placeholder text in the FAQ.
As Malaysia’s second Islamic digital bank, it would be interesting to see how KAF would differentiate itself from Aeon Bank which has the backing of Aeon retail ecosystem. Besides offering Aeon Points on retail spending with its Debit-i card, and profit rate of up to 3.00% p.a. for Savings Account-i, Aeon Bank now offers customers Shariah-compliant financing up to RM10,000.
