Online financial services marketplace BankBazaar on Monday said that it will begin operations in Malaysia, strengthening its presence in South East Asia.

Further, to scale and steer its international operations, BankBazaar has appointed former Visa employee Vipin Kalra to lead the business growth internationally.

"Buoyed by the positive business sentiment and a progressive regulator, Malaysia's banking industry is poised towards the next phase of disruption. This complements BankBazaar's vision to enable, simplify and improve the financial services value chain for consumers," Adhil Shetty, Co-founder and CEO, BankBazaar.Com said.

In line with this vision to expand its foothold in Southeast Asia, last month, BankBazaar announced an investment of Rs 5 crore in the Malaysian market and an additional INR 10 crore in its Singapore business.

As part of its international expansion strategy, the company also plans to begin its operations across Australia, Hong Kong, UAE and the Philippines over the next couple of years, it said in a statement.

Vipin Kalra joins BankBazaar.Com from Visa where he held various senior level positions.

BankBazaar will deploy a team of 30 people to support its expansion in Malaysia in addition to the 40-member Singapore team.