Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd has announced the launch of its cloud-native digital banking application, Be U, as Southeast Asia’s burgeoning fintech ecosystem takes flight.

The bank in a statement said it expects the app will attract between 350,000 and 400,000 downloads and users in the first 12 months after its launch. Be U is understood to be Malaysia’s first digital bank built natively on the cloud.

The app, targeted at younger users, currently offers a savings account that allows a zero balance, the ability to transfer funds, and a ‘nest’ feature to help save for long-term goals.

Several additional features will also be made available in the next 12 months, including term deposits, a gig marketplace, debit cards, personal financial management and micro-financing, as well as Sharia-based microtakaful capabilities to protect the financial activities of low-income earners.

“Through Be U, Bank Islam is shifting from being product-centric to customer-centric in creating products that fulfil customer needs,” Mohd Muzzam Mohamed, group chief executive of Bank Islam Malaysia, said.

“This is in line with our five-year business strategic plan (LEAP25) to become the champion in Shariah-environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) total financial solution in digital banking and social finance.”

The Be U app is powered by software from cloud banking platform, Mambu, and operates from Amazon Web Services’ cloud.

“We want to turn Bank Islam into an increasingly agile organisation by adopting new ways of working and attracting talents with new skillsets; using the latest technology and leveraging data and automation which enables us to serve our customers better,” Mohamed said.

“Be U focuses on customer segments that Bank Islam does not, capturing users still in the early stage of their working life — once their financial footing is more stable and they require more complex financial products and instruments, Be U will be there, offering Bank Islam’s various products and services.”