GX Bank Vs AEON Bank Vs Boost Bank: Which Has Better Returns?

As of now, there are several digital banks that have officially launched in Malaysia. These are the Grab-led GX Bank, the Shariah-Compliant AEON Bank, and the Axiata and RHB-led Boost Bank. 

There has been much anticipation and discussion surrounding the launch of these banks. However, many might be wondering which of them offers the best returns. Let’s find out.

GX Bank

The Grab-led GX Bank is licensed by Bank Negara and began operations in September 2023 in beta before slowly rolling out the app to the public. Some of its features include:

• Daily interest of 3% p.a. When stashing money in main account or “Pockets”
• Debit card with unlimited 1% cashback on all transactions with no fees on foreign transactions
• Cardholders get RM1 fee waiver when used at over 10,000+ MEPS ATMs nationwide
• Cardholders get 1.5x GrabRewards points when users spend at Jaya Grocer

AEON Bank

The second digital bank to open its figurative doors to Malaysians, AEON Banks is Malaysia’s Malaysia’s first Islamic digital bank, offering shariah-compliant services to customers. Its features include:

• 3.88% p.a. profit rate for its Savings Account-i and Savings Pot
• Debit card (physical and digital) that rewards three AEON points for every RM1 spent
• Sign-up bonus of 3,000 AEON Points on account activation
• 3x AEON Points with transactions using the AEON Bank x Visa debit card

Boost Bank

Boost Bank is the third digital bank to officially launch in Malaysia. Headed by Axiata and RHB, Boost bank is one of the few banks in Malaysia that will enable users who do not have an existing bank account to be digitally onboarded. 

• 1.5% – 3.6% p.a. daily interest on Saving Jars based on loyalty tier system
• 0.5% – 2.5% p.a. daily interest on Savings Account
• Earn 3x Boost Stars and extra rewards at higher reward tiers
• Unlock higher interest rates and partner benefits at higher reward tiers
• Deposit up to RM25,000 to “Groceries Jar” to earn 4% p.a. daily interest on this Jar until 30 September 2024

Let’s assume you deposit RM1,000 into GX Bank, AEON Bank and Boost Bank:

GX Bank

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Day start balance	1,000	1,000.08	1,000.16	1,000.24	1,000.32
Interest (3%)	0.08	0.08	0.08	0.08	0.08
Total Balance	1,000.08	1,000.16	1,000.24	1,000.32	1,000.40

AEON Bank

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Day start balance	1,000	1,000.11	1,000.22	1,000.33	1,000.44
Profit (3.88%)	0.11	0.11	0.11	0.11	0.11
Total Balance	1,000.11	1,000.22	1,000.33	1,000.44	1,000.55

Boost Bank Savings Jar

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Day start balance	1,000	1,000.11	1,000.22	1,000.33	1,000.44
Interest (4%)	0.11	0.11	0.11	0.11	0.11
Total Balance	1,000.11	1,000.22	1,000.33	1,000.44	1,000.55

As you can see, if left alone, AEON Bank has a slight edge in returns for your savings. However, this is assuming that you are not spending anything. GX Bank offers a 1% unlimited cashback for spending with its debit card. AEON Bank does not have cashback, but there is a small caveat.

You can redeem AEON Points as cash at a rate of 200 points to RM1 and the amount is credited directly to your savings account. Effectively, this is equivalent to 1.5% Cashback during the promo period. However, you won’t earn points for non-Shariah-compliant transactions.

With Boost Bank, you can get ever so slightly higher returns than AEON bank, but the difference is so miniscule, that it really does not matter much in the long-run. Additionally, Boost Bank comes with a caveat of being locked behind a loyalty tier system that is rather confusing to navigate.

Based on this, we can conclude that AEON Bank has better offers when it comes to cashback during the promotion period (Up till 31 August 2024). However, if you are making non-halal purchases, you will not earn any points, thus invalidating the higher cashback. 

As such, GX Bank might be better for general purchases. Boost Bank may offer higher returns on paper, but the sheer amount of convoluted and confusing hoops you need to get through to earn those rewards makes it very inconvenient for the average customer.

Conclusion

Overall, AEON Bank appears to offer a slightly better deal compared to GX Bank, just as long as you are making Shariah-compliant purchases. Boost Bank offers near-identical returns to AEON Bank, but earning those returns is currently very inconvenient for the customer and may not be worth the effort. 

However, it should be noted that the overall difference between all the offers are so slight that it might as well be negligible unless you put a very high amount of money into the accounts.