SPeKAR 10th anniversary proof of transformation

7 March 2024

By Nabalu News Journalist

KUALA LUMPUR: The 10th anniversary of the Financial Services Sector's (SPeKAR) journey is evidence of its transformation.

Starting as a digital credit review solution to its position as a benchmark for transparency in more efficient data review and collection, SPeKAR continuously encourages credit cooperatives and the private sector to implement the use of SPeKAR in all financing activities, especially under the licensing of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the Cooperative Commission of Malaysia (SKM), and the Ministry of Housing and Local Government.

Minister of entrepreneur development and cooperatives Datuk Ewon Benedick said this in his speech in conjunction with the inauguration of the decade innovation together with SPeKAR Angkasa and customer appreciation ceremony for SPeKAR.

He elaborated that Angkatan Koperasi Kebangsaan Malaysia Berhad (ANGKASA) and its strategic partner EXPERIAN Information Services (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. have successfully achieved another significant milestone for this movement by establishing a comprehensive and sustainable centralised credit reporting centre to empower the Credit Financial Sector Ecosystem for Cooperatives, also known as SPeKAR.

This effort was made possible through a strategic collaboration with EXPERIAN.

“I hope that more cooperatives and financing agencies will contribute data to strengthen SPeKAR's capabilities, including government agencies. Based on this information, cooperatives can conduct more comprehensive screening processes based on customer capabilities,” he said.

According to him, the strategic collaboration between ANGKASA and EXPERIAN is seen as one of the best business collaborations in enhancing the value of credit reporting systems.

This collaboration can also help improve customer credit assessments, thereby becoming a Coop’s One Stop Data Centre with additional functions introduced in the system, such as Bank Credit Information, Litigation Information, Bankruptcy Status, Company Ownership Information, Blacklist Listing, and other credit information, he shared.

“The Financial Services Sector has contributed RM38 billion to the cooperative movement, equivalent to 84% of the total cooperative movement revenue (Cooperative Movement Statistics 2022). This indicates that the Financial Services Sector is the main driver of the cooperative business sector, he said.

The Financial Services Sector is at the forefront of revolutionizing the use of credit reporting systems by leveraging the latest technology to empower credit and business data, he opined.

This initiative greatly assists the government and cooperatives in reducing the number of non-performing loans (NPL) due to insufficient information during the qualification screening process.

These efforts are also in line with the strategic steps for creating a sustainable business environment under the Malaysian Cooperative Transformation Plan 2021 – 2025 (TRANSKOM), he said adding that one of the government's strategic efforts in this regard is the development of structured technology adaptation programs in collaboration with the industry, establishing physical and virtual Cooperative Centres, and providing alternative financing such as crowdfunding and Peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms to cooperatives.

“The Ministry will continue to play its role and function as an entity that provides various needs from various perspectives such as policy, supervision, monitoring, advisory services, and so on, to ensure the socio-economic sustainability of the cooperative movement,” Ewon said.

He extended his appreciation to ANGKASA and EXPERIAN Information Services (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd for being the catalyst for revolutionising the cooperative financial sector and hoped that their efforts and initiatives to explore new service areas to complement the Cooperative Financial Ecosystem and the plan to become a leading and comprehensive Cooperative Credit Reporting Agency continue to be successful.