ONLINE NEWS: SC'S FIKRA EXCEL ATTRACTS GLOBAL TALENT FOR FINTECH INDUSTRY

SC’s FIKRA Excel Attracts Global Talent for Fintech Industry
MEDIA RELEASE
Kuala Lumpur, 22 April 2024

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), in collaboration with the Computer Science Society of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), held the highly anticipated Varsity Hackathon (VHACK 2024) on 20 April 2024.

VHACK is the inaugural event of the FIKRA ACE - Excel, a key component of the SC’s FIKRA ACE1. The FIKRA ACE - Excel is a capacity building initiative for the SC to support the development of Islamic fintech by building skillsets and talent for the industry through collaborations with higher learning institutions.

The SC Chairman Dato’ Seri Dr. Awang Adek Hussin said that VHACK 2024 is a platform for cultivating the next generation of fintech talents.

“It showcases the innovative spirit that thrives within undergraduates of Malaysia. This can be a call to action for stakeholders across academia, industry and government to collaborate, innovate and propel Malaysia towards becoming a global leader in Islamic fintech,” he said.

Focusing on solving curated Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) related real-life issues, the programme received an overwhelming response of over 900 applications from 90 higher learning institutions around the world.

In the final pitching day that was held at USM in Penang, 10 teams from multiple public and private universities were crowned winners2, bringing home a total of RM37,500 in cash prizes.

The winners and participants showcased the ability to assimilate technical knowledge into real-life applications empowered by technology, with proposed solutions ranging from interactive educational platform, investment and debt management apps to improve financial literacy to tech-powered crops management solutions.

The results underline the success of the programme’s aim to stimulate creativity and critical thinking, as well as developing digital skills among the students.

Besides FIKRA ACE, the SC also continues to spearhead fintech initiatives through its SCxSC initiative to support the growth of the capital market and ensure Malaysia remains competitive.

As a follow up to the recent SCxSC “Views from the Top: Digital Leaders' Dialogue on Emerging Techs”, the SC will engage with key industry stakeholders on 3 May3 to deliberate policy implications of asset tokenization, and the institutional integration of digital assets, within the capital market.