PLUS Malaysia

Was at the The Asian Banker Summit at Mandarin Oriental where the Heads of Tech for a few banks got together to discuss implications of AI usage, Data, legacy vs modernisation amongst other things.

In Malaysia, a person earning RM10k is taxed 4.2x more than someone earning RM5k. But the people earning RM50k are only taxed about 2.4x more than someone RM10k. But on the other hand Thevesh ㅤ has a good point and balanced view when he said The reduction in multiples (from 4.2x to 2.4x) is purely due to base effects—because people earning low incomes pay close to nothing. • Someone who earns RM5,001 for the year will pay RM1 in tax. Their effective tax rate (ETR) is 1/5000 = 0.02%. • When they earn RM20,000 per year, they pay RM150. Their ETR is 150/20000 = 0.75%.

when using AI to generate content, better dont buta buta copy and paste

The architecture of an eWallet is a multi-layered system designed to handle high-concurrency transactions while maintaining bank-grade security. It typically follows a microservices-based approach to ensure scalability and fault tolerance. 1. Client Layer (The Interface) This is the front-end interface where the user interacts with the wallet. .. Mobile App: Usually built with React Native, Flutter, or native (iOS/Android) frameworks. It handles biometric authentication, QR scanning, and push notifications. 2. API Gateway & Security Layer Acting as the "front door," this layer manages all incoming traffic. .. API Gateway: Handles request routing, rate limiting, and load balancing. .. Security & Identity: Manages OAuth2/OpenID Connect for authentication, JWT (JSON Web Tokens) for session management, and HSMs (Hardware Security Modules) for encrypting sensitive PINs or keys. 3. Core Logic Layer (Microservices) This is the brain of the eWallet, broken down into specialized services: .. User Management: Handles KYC (Know Your Customer), onboarding, and profile management. .. Ledger Service: The most critical component. It records every credit and debit in a double-entry bookkeeping format to ensure data integrity. .. Payment Engine: Orchestrates the transaction flow—checking for sufficient funds, calculating fees, and applying discounts. .. Notification Service: Dispatches real-time alerts via SMS, Email, or In-app notifications 4. Integration Layer (The Ecosystem) eWallets do not operate in a vacuum; they must connect to the broader financial world. .. Payment Gateways: For "Top-ups" using credit cards or FPX. .. Banking Rails: Connections to ISO 20022 or PayNet for fund transfers and withdrawals. 5. Data & Persistence Layer .. Relational Databases (RDBMS): (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL) Used for the core ledger and user data where ACID compliance is mandatory. .. NoSQL Databases: (e.g., MongoDB, Cassandra) Used for storing non-structured data like activity logs or device metadata. .. Caching Layer: (e.g., Redis) Stores temporary session data and frequently accessed information to reduce latency 6. Analytics & Compliance Layer .. Fraud Detection System (FDS): Uses AI/ML models to analyze transaction patterns in real-time to flag suspicious activity (AML - Anti-Money Laundering). .. Reporting Engine: Generates regulatory reports for central banks and financial authorities. Key Technical Challenges .. Idempotency: Ensuring that if a user hits "Pay" twice due to a bad connection, the transaction is only processed once. .. Eventual Consistency vs. Strong Consistency: While microservices often favor eventual consistency, the Ledger must always be strongly consistent to prevent "double spending." .. Zero-Downtime: Utilizing blue-green deployments or canary releases to update the system without interrupting 24/7 payment services.

While customers interact primarily with a bank’s mobile app or website, the "true" product is the complex, underlying infrastructure that ensures security, reliability, and regulatory compliance. 1. The "App" is Just the Shop Window In the modern fintech era, many people mistake the user interface (UI) for the product itself. However, the app is like a shop window: while it needs to be attractive and functional, its value is entirely dependent on the "inventory" and "supply chain" behind it. A beautiful app that cannot process a payment or keep data secure is a failure. 2. The Core Value: The "System of Record" The real value of a bank lies in its System of Record. This includes: - Ledgers and Data Integrity: The absolute certainty that your balance is correct and that transactions are immutable. - Regulatory Resilience: The ability to navigate complex global laws, anti-money laundering (AML) checks, and "Know Your Customer" (KYC) protocols. - Availability: Ensuring the system works 24/7, even during massive spikes in traffic or cyberattacks. 3. The Complexity of Modernization Why "legacy" banks struggle to compete with "neobanks"? It isn't just because their apps look dated; it's because their back-end systems are often decades-old "spaghetti code." "Digital transformation" is often treated as a facelift for the app, when it should be a total reconstruction of the underlying engine. 4. Reliability as a Product Feature Trust is the ultimate product in banking. Trust is not built through a sleek dark mode or a "round-up" savings feature; it is built through the invisible system that ensures money arrives where it is supposed to go, every single time, without fail. Key Takeaway This a reminder to product managers and executives that innovation in the "back-office" is just as critical as innovation in the "front-office." To build a truly competitive bank, one must focus on the robustness, scalability, and agility of the banking system itself, rather than just the pixels on a smartphone screen.

Interesting... Microsoft has spent the most to date but Oracle has spent the most in 2025

In Beijing's 2026 humanoid robot half-marathon, HONOR's Lightning completed the 21 km course in 50:26 minute. It beat the current human men's half-marathon world record of 57:20.

Anthropic did something no other AI lab had done. They deliberately made Claude Opus 4.7 dumber at cybersecurity before releasing it. Last week Anthropic previewed Mythos, their most powerful model yet. Instead of shipping it, they paused. Said the cyber capabilities were too sharp to release broadly without real-world safeguard testing first. So they took Opus 4.7 and, during training, ran experiments to differentially reduce its cyber capabilities. Then they bolted on runtime classifiers that auto-detect and block prohibited cyber-use prompts. The framing matters. Every other lab races capabilities and patches safety after. Anthropic just shipped a weaker model on purpose so they could stress-test the guardrails before the stronger one ever touches production. They also launched a Cyber Verification Program for legit security researchers doing vuln research, pentesting, and red teaming. So the capability isn't gone, it's gated behind identity verification. This is what responsible scaling actually looks like in practice. A released model that is measurably less capable than the one sitting in the lab, because the safety work on the stronger one isn't finished.

26 years ago on April 18, 2000... OCBC launched the first digital bank in ASEAN called Finatiq. It was well ahead of its time, no branches, fully online (web). But oh boy did it struggle. No epayment capabilities in the 2000s, so initial deposit is via mailing a cheque in. If u cashed out, a cheque will be mailed to you. No eKYC at that point in time. Because smart phones did not exist at that time, it was fully web. Internet Explorer 5.5 was the dominant browser in Year 2000. JavaScript existed but the AJAX architecture (Asynchronous Javascript and XML) had not been born yet in 2000. I was part of the team that built that digital bank in year 2000. Cold Fusion front end with JavaScript used for client side validation. S1 internet banking back end using Mint middleware that hooked up with back end systems, all running on Sun Solaris Servers. More than half the technologies I am spewing out now is obsolete and no longer existing. FInatiq unfortunately closed down in 2011, but what a ride.