Enterprise Explores

According to the Risk in Focus 2026 report, organisations in Southeast Asia correctly rank cybersecurity, business resilience, and digital disruption as their top priorities. Yet, with cybercrime losses in Malaysia crossing RM1 billion, there is a glaring gap between risk awareness and real-world preparedness.BFM explores this "implementation gap" with Suhailah Abdulla and Philip Satish Rao from the Institute of Internal Auditors Malaysia. They argue that risk policies often look good on paper ("form over substance") but fail because organisations treat cybersecurity as a backroom function rather than "organisational DNA."We also discuss why Internal Auditors must evolve from financial checkers into "nervous system sensors" for the board, and how to navigate the specific dangers of "Agentic AI" while keeping humans in the loop.We discuss:The Preparedness Paradox: Why high risk awareness hasn't translated into fewer breaches, and the danger of "compliance on paper" versus actual implementation.Cybersecurity as DNA: Why treating cyber risk as IT's problem is a fatal error. Philip gets into the need for adaptive controls that evolve as fast as the hackers do.AI Governance & "Human in the Loop": How to balance the opportunity of AI with the risk of "Agentic Enterprises." We discuss the necessity of establishing governance frameworks that prevent over-reliance on algorithms.The Auditor as "Nervous System Sensor": Moving beyond the independent mask. Why modern auditors need engineering and supply chain skills to provide true risk intelligence to the board.Interconnected Risks: Lessons from COVID-19 on why siloed risk management fails, and why boards must view supply chain, geopolitical, and digital risks through a single Enterprise Risk lens.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

2025 was a year of "stark contrast" for Malaysia’s private capital markets. While institutional commitments from GLICs like Jelawang Capital, Khazanah, and KWAP signaled continued government support, regional confidence faced significant headwinds. The eFishery scandal cast a long shadow over governance, while giants like Temasek signaled a bearish pivot, cutting back on early-stage investments in favor of safer bets.Ng Sai Kit, Chairman of the MVCA, joins BFM to wrap up our 2025 Review & 2026 Outlook series. We discuss the regime of "normalisation and discipline," and why the association is rebranding to the Malaysia Private Capital Association (MPCA).We discuss:The 2025 Scorecard: Sai Kit characterises the year as one of "normalisation." While GLIC commitments (Khazanah, Jelawang, KWAP, PNB) provided reassurance, the industry’s core constraint remains: capital formation is scaling faster than exits.The Temasek Pivot: With regional giants like Temasek scaling back on early-stage bets, Sai Kit weighs whether Malaysia can capture this flow or if the "void" signals a deeper structural issue in Southeast Asian VC.The Exit Bottleneck: The traditional Silicon Valley unicorn model is failing locally. Sai Kit argues for a shift toward incentivising M&A and encouraging mid-sized companies to merge for scale.What LPs Want Now: The free money is gone. LPs are now demanding "proof of underwriting discipline", treating follow-on investments as new checks rather than automatic support, and rigorous loss management.Valuation Realities: Sai Kit explains why using headline numbers from funding rounds to calculate fair value is dangerous. We break down why different share classes (with seniority and liquidation preferences) mean the "paper value" often differs from reality.The "Crowding-In" Strategy: Why Sai Kit believes that government-led funding is healthy for a developing ecosystem, provided it validates rather than replaces private capital.The Rebrand (MVCA to MPCA): Why the association is dropping "Venture" and "Private Equity” from its name to embrace Private Capital as a whole, more clearly embracing Private Equity (given that it isn’t reflected in the short form name) but also including Private Credit and Venture Debt.ASEAN Ambitions: Insights into the formation of the ASEAN Private Market Council, aimed at harmonising fragmented fund structures to allow seamless cross-border fundraising across Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For years, the Malaysian fintech story was about anticipation, waiting for digital bank licenses, waiting for regulation, and waiting for mass adoption. According to the Malaysia Fintech Report 2025, the wait is over.Vincent Fong, Chief Editor of Fintech News Malaysia, joins BFM to review a year where Malaysia moved from "promise to delivery." We break down the explosive growth of DuitNow QR (where Malaysia ranks second only to China) and the 100 million+ transactions in the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) sector.However, execution comes with costs. With digital banks posting significant initial losses, 2026 is set to be the year of "Economics and Cost Control."We discuss:The "Execution" Pivot: How 2025 saw a surge in adoption, from RM967 million in cross-border transactions to the ubiquity of QR payments.Digital Bank Reality Check: Why heavy losses in the first year are typical for the sector (the J-curve effect) and why the 2026 strategy will shift toward lending, insurance products, and AI-driven cost efficiency.The End of the BNPL "Wild West": With SPayLater and Atome dominating the market, we discuss the implications of the Consumer Credit Act and the risks associated with a user base where 70% earn under RM5,000.Cross-Border Connectivity: The role of the Nexus scheme (connecting 5 central banks) and Alipay+ in driving regional payment integration.Open Finance: The next regulatory frontier. Vincent explains how API-based data aggregation will finally allow consumers to view their entire financial life on a single dashboard, provided incumbents get on board.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For Malaysian SMEs, 2025 was a defensive year, graded a modest C+ (or B-) by SAMENTA. It was a year defined by uneven recovery, compliance shocks (from e-Invoicing to SST hikes), and the "Second China Shock" squeezing local businesses.For 2026, Datuk William Ng, National President of SAMENTA, outlines a strategy of "Selective Offense”. We discuss why businesses must prioritise cash preservation over aggressive expansion, how to navigate the talent crisis exacerbated by minimum wage hikes, and why "financial hygiene" is the key to unlocking bank financing and private equity.We also explore why branding is the only true leverage SMEs have left to regain pricing power in a market where costs are spiraling.NOTE: This interview was recorded prior to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim delivering his 2026 New Year Message. After reaching out to Datuk William for his reactions, updated commentary on the extended e-invoicing transition period to 12months and SST revisions has been woven into the conversation.We discuss:The 2025 Review: Why export-oriented SMEs thrived while domestic players struggled.The 2026 Strategy: Why "Selective Offense" and automation are the themes of the year.The Talent Crisis: How minimum wage hikes and the gig economy are hollowing out the workforce.The AI Reality: Moving from fear to practical use cases like ESG reporting and demand forecasting.The Equity Question: What to know before selling a stake to Private Equity.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If 2024 was the year of recovery, 2025 was the year of "overexuberance followed by utter deflation." While market cap peaked at $4.2 trillion and Bitcoin hit a high of $126k, the market has since cooled, with Bitcoin struggling to break past $100k since mid-November. But looking past the price action, the real story was the quiet rise of institutional plumbing.Hann Liew, Founder and CEO of Halogen Capital, joins BFM to review a volatile 2025 and outline the outlook for 2026. We discuss:The 2025 Scorecard: Hann describes the year as "overexuberance," where a pro-crypto US administration drove hype that outpaced reality. However, the market floor is now significantly higher than previous cycles.The Genius Act: How new US legislation has legitimised stablecoins, forcing major banks like JP Morgan to explore the "blockchainisation" of their internal systems.The $300B Stablecoin Utility: Beyond trading, stablecoins are now essential infrastructure. Hann explains why you can't have a tokenised bond market without tokenised cash to settle it.Tokenising Real World Assets (RWAs): How tokenisation upgrades assets from paper certificates to immutable code. We explore the potential for a tokenised bond and what it could mean for Malaysian capital markets.Bots Paying Bots: The intersection of AI and Crypto. Hann explains why AI agents can't open bank accounts, making stablecoins the essential currency for the emerging "machine-to-machine" economy.Outlook 2026: Why the lack of a "blow-off top" is a sign of maturity, the potential passing of the Clarity Act, and why fiat currency debasement remains the ultimate long-term tailwind.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malaysia’s economy scored an ‘A’ in 2025, with strong GDP growth and a strengthening Ringgit. But with slowing global growth and US tariffs looming, was 2025 a fluke or a foundation?Pankaj Kumar, Managing Director of Datametrics Research & Information Centre (DARE), joins BFM to kick off our "2025 Review & 2026 Outlook" series. We unpack the disconnect between stellar macro data and the "ground reality" of rising costs, and why the full impact of US trade policy might hit Malaysia like a tsunami in 2026.NOTE: This interview was recorded just before the US attacked Venezuela and captured its President Nicolás Maduro. As such, this development is not reflected in the conversation.We discuss:2025 Report Card: Pankaj grades Malaysia’s GDP performance an ‘A’, driven by a surprise 17.7% surge in net exports in Q3 and the successful rollout of the BUDI 95 subsidy rationalization.The "Feel Good" Gap: Why businesses and consumers aren't feeling the growth. Pankaj attributes this to the booming e-commerce sector killing retail footfall, low wages, and the compliance costs of new taxes like the widened SST.Cabinet Reshuffle & Governance: Pankaj welcomes the recent appointments but argues the Prime Minister should relinquish the Finance Minister portfolio to ensure better governance.The Trump Factor: Malaysia navigated the "liberation day tariffs" well with a reciprocal 19% rate, but Pankaj warns that 2025’s export numbers were inflated by "front-loading" demand, meaning the real pain will arrive in 2026.Outlook 2026: With the US and China slowing down, Malaysia must pivot to domestic demand and broader investments to sustain growth as export momentum fades.Ringgit to 3.80? Why Bank Negara will likely hold rates steady, and Pankaj’s bold prediction that the Ringgit could head back towards its peg-era level of 3.80 as the US dollar’s safe-haven status erodes.Investment Strategy: Navigating the risks of a "Trump-friendly" Fed Chair and why Pankaj is bullish on precious metals, specifically arguing that platinum is undervalued relative to gold.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When we talk about Malaysian tech, we often talk about data centers and infrastructure. But are we actually building anything? Two weeks ago, over 600 developers, students, and founders answered that question at the Cursor x Anthropic Hackathon Malaysia.Kong Ka Weng and Faw Ali join us to break down how a small community meetup exploded into one of the region's largest AI coding marathons. They explain the phenomenon of "Vibe Coding", where non-technical founders use AI to build production-ready apps, and why the rise of AI agents is allowing solo founders to skip the traditional seed stage.We also dive into the tech stack that made this possible, exploring how "agentic" IDEs like Cursor allow developers to go from idea to MVP in hours, not months.We discuss:The Grassroots Explosion: Scaling from a 30-person meetup to 1,800 signups in weeks.The Tech: How AI Agents (like Claude) read files, edit code, and visualise UI changes autonomously.The Projects: From "Waze for Sailors" to a retro fighting game based on social media profiles.The Venture Track: Partnering with 500 Global to fast-track hackathon projects into investable startups.The Talent: Addressing Malaysia's brain drain and the influx of regional builders.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A recent analysis of 4.6 million global conversations reveals a fracture in the climate narrative. While emerging markets like Brazil and Indonesia are surging with optimism driven by tangible infrastructure delivery, the US and UK are mired in skepticism, policy reversals, and fatigue.Dan La Russo, Senior Partner at Penta, joins us to unpack the massive shift from the era of "Climate Commitments", where ambitious targets were enough, to the era of "Climate Credibility," where stakeholders demand proof.We discuss why consumers have become the most skeptical stakeholder group and how companies can bridge the trust gap by reframing sustainability through the lens of affordability and daily life rather than abstract long-term goals.Image Credit: ShutterstockSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

General Managers must own AI, not CIOs or CTOs. A new report from Bain & Company reveals a sharp divide: while most companies are stuck in "pilot purgatory," a small group of AI leaders are securing 10–25% gains in EBITDA. The difference isn't the software, it's the strategy.Shazrul Asari and Dhruva Murugasu, Partners at Bain & Company, join us to explain why scaling AI requires a fundamental business transformation rather than just "sprinkling AI on top" (like adding extra sambal to Nasi Lemak). We explore why plugging AI into old workflows is like driving a supercar in a traffic jam, and why the rise of "Agentic AI" demands a total rethink of the organisational chart.We discuss:The Divide: Why leaders achieve scale while others get stuck in sheltered pilots.Workflow Redesign: Why you must decommission old processes, not just layer AI on top.Agentic AI: The structural shift from "digital helpers" to "digital workers" that act autonomously.The Talent Trap: How to prevent the "hollowing out" of junior roles via augmented apprenticeships.CEO Advice: Why momentum matters more than perfection in the race to scale.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the year winds down, cyber attackers are gearing up. Semperis’ 2025 Ransomware Holiday Risk Report reveals that over half of ransomware attacks hit during weekends or holidays, when most organisations sharply reduce monitoring and response capability. With identity systems at the heart of almost every major breach, and with global cybercrime costs set to reach USD 10.5 trillion, the stakes have never been higher.Jeff Wichman, Director of Incident Response at Semperis, discusses what really happens when attackers strike, why identity weaknesses amplify the damage, and what frontline ransomware negotiations can teach business leaders. A grounded, visual, and highly practical conversation on how every organisation – from SMEs to large enterprises – can strengthen resilience before the next holiday season.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.