GXBank: a Malaysian digital bank reserved for Malaysian citizens

In April 2022, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) announced five winners of digital bank licences, including, under the Financial Services Act 2013, "a consortium led by GXS Bank Pte. Ltd. and Kuok Brothers Sdn. Bhd." GXBank emerged from it: this is a banking licence, separate from that of GXS in Singapore, hence a separate entry.

BNM specified that the winners first had to complete a period of operational readiness, validated by an audit, before starting their activity. PIDM, the Malaysian deposit insurer, lists GXBank among the digital banks that are members of its scheme.

We did not consult the entity's entry in BNM's register of licensed institutions; its exact corporate name is therefore not given.

GXBank's help page lists the people who are not eligible: non-Malaysian citizens, Malaysian citizens living abroad and people under figure being updated. The account is therefore reserved for adult Malaysians living in Malaysia.

For an EverLatitude reader, the consequence is simple: a foreigner living in Malaysia cannot open this account, and a Malaysian who moves abroad falls outside the scope defined by the bank.

The Malaysian digital banks presented in this directory (GXBank, AEON Bank, Boost Bank) limit account opening to Malaysian citizens, according to the sources consulted. For a foreigner living in Malaysia, including under a long-term residence programme, the usual route remains a traditional bank with branches.

The retail offering consists of a ringgit account opened from the app, with a card and local transfers.

We did not find a fee schedule or dated limits on an official page.

PIDM states that deposits are protected up to up to MYR 250,000¹ per depositor per member bank, and lists GXBank among the digital banks that are members. Its FAQ specifies that foreign-currency deposits are converted into ringgit and aggregated with the other deposits of the same holder.

The PIDM FAQ specifies that foreign-currency deposits are converted into ringgit and aggregated with the other deposits of the same holder, under the same limit. Each member bank carries its own separate limit: assets spread across several banks benefit from several limits.

• Nationality: only Malaysian citizenship gives access.
• A Malaysian account holder moving abroad: the page excludes Malaysians living outside Malaysia, which raises the question of whether an existing account can be kept; to be confirmed with the bank.
• The entity's name and its entry in BNM's register.
• The reporting obligations linked to your tax residence: a French tax resident must declare each year the accounts opened, held, used or closed outside France, including those with online banks and payment wallets; other countries impose comparable obligations.
• The tax residence self-certification requested at account opening: depending on the automatic exchange of information commitments of the bank's country, the account's balances and income may be reported to the tax authority of your country of residence.