KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 21 — Bursa Malaysia Bhd is seeking out opportunities to collaborate with fintech (financial technology) companies or other strategic partners to strengthen its value proposition, thus increasing its agility and efficiency.

Chief executive officer Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift said such efforts would help the exchange grow, capture new opportunities, innovate, and remain relevant in this fast-changing financial landscape.

"We are open as to potential collaboration and the nature of the same.

"We also look towards investment and adoption of new financial technologies through proof-of-concept (PoC) and investment in start-ups, in an effort to accelerate the adoption of new technology and with new partners to benefit the wider industry and drive the growth of the capital market,” he told Bernama.

Hence, Muhamad Umar said Bursa Malaysia has successfully completed two PoCs where the collaborations were part of the exchange’s focus on technology-driven innovation.

"As we better understand the value of some of these opportunities and further our discussions with key partners, we may explore mergers and acquisitions (M&A) should the opportunity arise,” he said.

However, Muhamad Umar said Bursa Malaysia has no plans to merge with any exchange at this time.

It was reported that Singapore Exchange Ltd (SGX) is exploring mergers and acquisitions to drive its ambitions as a multi-asset exchange.

Commenting on SGX’s plan, Muhamad Umar said the local bourse sees SGX as a strong competitor and as a partner.

Bursa Malaysia has worked synergistically with SGX for mutual benefit for many years now, for example, via the Asean Exchanges collaboration.

"We will also continue to engage in collaborations and knowledge sharing with specific peer exchanges. However, there are no plans to merge with any exchange, at this time.”

He stressed that Bursa Malaysia will continue to look for opportunities to collaborate towards contributing to the growth of Asean economy, specifically across the capital markets of Asean.

The exchange remains focused on the bigger picture and the factors that are important to it, which is the growth in capabilities to serve its stakeholders and the growing the breadth and depth of its offerings.

"This will contribute in showcasing the attractiveness of the Asean market as an asset class to global investors,” he added. — Bernama