PETALING JAYA: Japan’s Seven Bank Ltd has established its fourth overseas group company in Malaysia, after entering the United States, Indonesia and the Philippines.
A source told SunBiz that Seven Bank intends to deploy its first ATMs in Selangor between October and December this year.
“They aim is to install ATMs in 7-Eleven stores across Malaysia, focusing on underbanked areas,” the source said.
The joint venture, headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, has a capital of RM13.2 million, with Seven Bank holding a majority stake of 50.1%, and locally owned subsidiary 7-Eleven Services Sdn Bhd and two local investment companies holding the remaining shares.
Listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Seven Bank is part of the Japanese retail giant Seven & i Holdings Co. Though mid-sized in Japan, Seven Bank is the country’s largest digital bank. It is unique for a digital bank because it has its own ATM network.
With Malaysia’s economic growth at 3.7% in 2023, coupled with a high proportion of cash usage and a significant number of ATM withdrawals per capita, Seven Bank views Malaysia as a promising market for its ATM business growth.
“Malaysia is currently showing economic growth at 3.7% (GDP growth rate in 2023/according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia), and its demographic dividend period is forecast to continue until 2050 with a large proportion of younger generations, just like Indonesia and the Philippines.
“In addition, given that the amount of cash in circulation has increased every year, we regard the country as one of the promising Asian markets,” the group said in an announcement in Tokyo.
Particularly, as for lifestyle habits in Malaysia, the proportion of people who pay in cash on a daily basis exceeds 70%, with the average number of withdrawals using ATMs being high compared with Japan and other Asian countries, it said.
Seven Bank said that while the total number of ATMs currently stands at around 15,000 or so throughout the nation, the number of ATMs per one million population amounts to 446. “For these reasons, Seven Bank has judged that growth potential is expected in the ATM business in this country,” it added.
The new group company in Kuala Lumpur, aims to install banknote-recycling ATMs in regions with limited banking infrastructure, particularly within convenience stores.
“As there are few ATMs placed within convenience stores in the locality, we will aim to intertwine finance and retail services by providing new financial services through convenience store ATMs by sequentially installing ATMs in 7-Eleven stores,” it said.
