Copyright © 2018 Authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7 (2.29) (2018) 166-169 International Journal of Engineering & Technology Website: www.sciencepubco.com/index.php/IJET Research paper Preliminary Study on Consumer Attitude towards FinTech Products and Services in Malaysia Cham Tat Huei, Low Suet Cheng*, Lim Chee Seong, Aye Aye Khin, Raymond Ling Leh Bin Faculty of Accountancy and Management, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kajang, Malaysia *Corresponding author E-mail: *lowsc@utar.edu.my Abstract “FinTech” or a compound term of Financial Technology refers as a newly emerged industry that utilizes IT-centered technologies which aims to boost the efficiency of the financial ecosystem. Since its inception, FinTech has successfully established its presence in the global financial industry due to the benefits and advantages of the system. However, the research studies that highlight the importance of FinTech are scarce. Specifically, the study pertaining to the consumers’ attitude towards FinTech products and services in the context of Malaysia remains unexplored by most of the studies. This preliminary study proposed the extension of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to identify the potential factors that influence consumers’ intention to adopt FinTech products and services in Malaysia. This study reviewed the factors, namely the usefulness, ease of use, competitive advantage, perceived risk, and perceived cost that can poten- tially influence the attitude of customers towards the product and services of FinTech. This study also proposes the potential mediating effect of attitude towards using FinTech products and the intention to adopt FinTech. This study attempts to create new knowledge geared towards the behavior to utilize FinTech products in Malaysia. Keywords: FinTech; Consumers’ attitude; Technology Acceptance Model; Financial services; Technology 1. Introduction Financial Technology, or better known as “FinTech”, is an inno- vative financial service that emerged in tandem with the new tech- nologies advancement. Mobile-based payment is the most typical service in China, Korea and the UK (Kim, Park, Choi, & Yeon, 2015). The history of FinTech can be traced as early as in 1950s where the usage and services from credit cards aimed to reduce burden in carrying cash. Financial technology has transformed the decades of automated teller machine (ATM) usage and services that aimed to reduce tellers and branches into online banking sys- tem in the 1990s. The financial technology has further digitized in the 21st century via the mobile wallet, payment apps, robo- advisors for wealth and financial planning, crowdfunding plat- forms for alternative financing opportunities. This scenario can be supported by the increasing number of potential users of FinTech products in Malaysia as illustrated in Figure 1. Since its inception, FinTech has greatly influenced the global fi- nancial market and the way consumers perform their financial transactions. As Information and Communications Technology (ICT) companies can develop simple and easy financial services, hence non-financial companies have started to enter the financial market; becoming a threat for traditional financial services. In Malaysia, many ICT companies have started to emerge in the industry. The top 10 FinTech companies in Malaysia are MyCash online, GHL, Crowdo, Ethis Kapital, Soft Space, MoneyMatch, Manage Pay Systems Berhad (MPay), iMoney, Neuroware, and Tranglo (Singapore, 2017, Jan 13). There are many challenges for FinTech companies in Malaysia as the central bank of Malaysia has instigated the Financial Technology Sandbox Framework (FTSF) which requires the FinTech companies to fulfill a set of criteria in order to ensure all the products and services offered are in line with the laws and regulations. As FinTech is a new phenomenon in the local financial ecosystem, to what extent that FinTech is beneficial to Malaysian and SMEs remains unexplored. To date, there are extremely scarcity of stud- ies and research being performed on the Malaysian FinTech indus- try. To the best knowledge of researchers, local business practi- tioners (new entrants, start-ups, investors and potential venture capitalists) and policy makers, the studies that are related to the overall acceptance of FinTech’s products and services by the con- sumers and SMEs in Malaysia are virtually unknown and limited. Moreover, there is also lack of studies for the FinTech industry on consumer’s attitude in Malaysia. Hence, this study aims to inves- tigate the acceptance level towards FinTech’s products and ser- vices in Malaysia using the Technology Acceptance Model or better known with its abbreviation, TAM. There is a significant urgency to investigate the acceptance, expectation and readiness of Malaysian consumers towards FinTech’s products and services which is perceived to be benefiting individual financing needs and business community, thus spurring the growth of the digital econ- omy as a whole. In addition to above, Davis, Bagozzi and Warshaw (1989) in their study argued that the TAM explains the acceptance of consumers toward new technology. Hence, TAM will be adopted as the sig- nificant theory in exploring the factors affecting consumers’ att i-