{
  "id": 9247126,
  "title": "Bank Rakyat, Alibaba, Lenovo team up to drive MSME digital growth",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/23/bank-rakyat-alibaba-lenovo-team-up-to-drive-msme-digital-growth",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-23T01:55:34.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "New Straits Times",
    "slug": "new-straits-times",
    "url": "https://www.nst.com.my/business/corporate/2026/09/1538952/bank-rakyat-alibaba-lenovo-team-drive-msme-digital-growth"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Bank Rakyat, in collaboration with Alibaba and Lenovo, is aiming to boost digital growth for Malaysian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by expanding their digital capabilities and opening new avenues for cross-border e-commerce. These strategic engagements during a mission to Shanghai involved high-level officials such as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the Minister of Trade and Industry, Johari Abdul Ghani. The bank's chairman, Datuk Mohd Irwan Mohd Mubarak, emphasized that the partnership would leverage global technology and the bank's market expertise to develop solutions that improve customer experience, efficiency, and business opportunities. Through its engagement with Alibaba Cloud, Bank Rakyat plans to harness cloud computing, AI, data analytics, and other digital technologies to enhance the competitiveness of MSMEs. This includes providing access to Alibaba's e-commerce platforms, helping these businesses reach a wider international customer base. Lenovo will join Bank Rakyat's Fintech Community Hub as an ecosystem partner, focusing on identifying fintech companies and technologies for potential collaboration in the bank's accelerator programme. This initiative aims to expand digital transformation beyond banking, creating a stronger ecosystem that empowers Malaysian MSMEs to scale and participate more effectively in the global economy.",
  "summary": "KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Rakyat is stepping up its digital transformation and efforts to help Malaysian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) expand overseas through strategic engagements with Alibaba and Lenovo in China.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Free Malaysia Today",
        "title": "Bank Rakyat perkukuh agenda transformasi digital bersama Alibaba, Lenovo",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/23/bank-rakyat-perkukuh-agenda-transformasi-digital-bersama-alibaba",
        "published": "2026-09-23T02:46:36.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Dawn",
        "title": "Asian Development Bank keeps Pakistan's growth forecast at 3.7pc",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/23/asian-development-bank-keeps-pakistans-growth-forecast-at-3-7pc",
        "published": "2026-09-23T03:59:46.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}