KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 3): CapBay, a Malaysian multi-bank supply chain finance and peer-to-peer financing platform, has partnered with Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd (KIBB) to create Malaysia's first Islamic supply chain finance fintech.

The partnership was established after CapBay acquired a 49% stake in Kenanga Capital Islamic Sdn Bhd (KCI), a subsidiary of KIBB, it said in a statement today.

According to a statement by CapBay, the partnership is expected to support the underserved small and medium enterprise (SME) market that is estimated to grow five times from its current RM20 billion.

Leveraging on CapBay's strong technological expertise, the acquisition aims to transform Malaysia's traditional factoring industry to enable SMEs to obtain financing seamlessly through a digital platform.

The digital process allows transactions to carry on despite movement restrictions. CapBay has also developed proprietary technology to ease the onboarding of SMEs and credit evaluation.

CapBay said following the stake acquisition, it appointed Ang Xing Xian as chief executive officer of KCI, to continue its effort to grow the Shariah-compliant business and develop the Islamic finance market.

Ang will report to Kenanga group managing director Datuk Chay Wai Leong.

"KCI is known for providing thorough and reliable SME financing in the government sector," said Chay.

"We're excited to enhance our service offering with a larger team of experts at CapBay and are now able to provide high quality financing services to both the government and private sectors," he added.

Meanwhile, Ang said: "We have always been committed to offering our customers the solutions they need to advance the growth of Malaysian businesses of all sizes. I am confident that this partnership with KIBB will allow us to grow as an organisation and better serve our customers as we invest in our infrastructure and service offering."

CapBay also announced the appointment of Datuk Seri Mohd Mokhtar Mohd Shariff as the chairman of their holding company, Bay Group Holdings Sdn Bhd.

Mohd Mokhtar, who has a Bachelor of Law (Hons) degree, MBA and Certificate of Legal Practice, will be leading efforts to further strengthen risk management practices in the areas of operational, fraud and Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT).

KIBB closed unchanged at 74 sen, valuing it at RM525.93 million.