Central Bank Of Malaysia Issues Exposure Draft For Its Outsourcing Framework

On 28 September 2017, Bank Negara Malaysia (i.e. the Central Bank of Malaysia) ("BNM") has issued an exposure draft of the Outsourcing Guidelines ("Exposure Draft") to obtain public and industry feedback on the proposed regulatory requirements. The Exposure Draft sets out the requirements for licensed financial institutions when implementing, or renewing, any outsourcing arrangements.

In its announcement, BNM stated that the framework aims to "ensure that risk management practices for outsourcing arrangements remain effective" especially as the financial services sector continues to embrace technological advancement in a digitised environment.

While still in draft format, the regulatory requirements to be met before a financial institution can outsource any function have been made more stringent. These higher standards reflect BNM's concerns that licensed financial institutions are reliant on service providers for activities that are critical to the