MAXIS' M MONEY

About 3 months back I posted something on the future of mobile money as I was approached to help market the same with another company. I doubted the company's claims of exclusivity. True enough, as expected, Maxis and Maybank just got into partnership to exploit the market with their ready database of customers.

In short, customers can now use their Maxis Mobiles plus Maybank Accounts without carrying their cash anymore to pay bills or other tansactions at supermarkets, petrol pumps and what nots.

Here is the report by The Star, yesterday, Wednesday 9th April.



"Maxis unveils mobile payment service

Maxis Communications Bhd expects its latest mobile money service, M-money, to record domestic transactions worth about RM500mil per annum by 2010, according to group chief executive officer Datuk Jamaludin Ibrahim.

In terms of take-up, the group expected to have one million M-money customers within the first 12 months, he said.

"M-money represents a tipping point in the emerging mobile banking and payment industry," he said at the launch of the service, the result of a strategic alliance between Maxis and Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) yesterday.


He added that users could instantly credit or cash out money securely from their M-money accounts via their mobile phones through Maybank Financial Services or selected Maxis centres and DropZone outlets.

M-money allows consumers to use their mobile phones to make domestic fund transfers and purchases of selected goods and services up to RM500 in value. A 50 sen fee is charged per transaction.

Maxis plans to extend the service to include overseas money transfer within neighbouring countries once it receives Bank Negara approval.

It will also be working with Maybank to enable mobile phones to be used as a Touch n' Go card for transportation or Visa Wave credit card for purchases.

Maybank president and chief executive officer Datuk Amirsham A. Aziz said M-money was the country's first complete end-to-end electronic money service.

"This partnership gives us an opportunity to explore innovative avenues for expansion and enables consumers to enjoy greater payment and e-commerce convenience via the use of electronic money," he said. He added that the bank's Maybank2u.com portal, which was now averaging electronic transactions worth about RM3bil per month, was an indication of the growing popularity of e-commerce among Malaysians.

On a separate note, Jamaludin said Maxis would announce the partner for its Indonesian venture in a few weeks.

He said the company was currently in talks with a "couple" of parties but declined to disclose if they were local or foreign."

- report by the star newspaper, tuesday 8th april 2008.