A Malaysian FinTech start-up and the Malaysian branch of a Kuwait bank announced a strategic collaboration to provide cross-border payments for its customers.
The collaboration, the first of its kind between a foreign Islamic bank and a local FinTech start-up, enables the bank to deliver cutting-edge, Syariah-based solutions to its customers. This partnership marks the start-up’s maiden entry to provide enterprise solutions via its newest product BankFX, and ultimately to improve the cross-border payments experience for consumers regardless of platform.
The start-ups Chief Executive Officer stated that it is excited to have the bank onboard as its first Bank FX customer. The firm strongly believes that everyone should have access to the best exchange rates regardless of platform.
Through this network collaboration with the bank, the efforts to transform the experience of cross-border payments for all will be greatly amplified.
To celebrate the launch of this collaboration, the bank customers will be entitled to a 100% service fee waiver promotion for all native-currency cross-border payments made via its physical branches nationwide. This offer is valid until 31 August 2019.
The start-up and the bank will complement each to introduce inexpensive, convenient and faster cross-border payment services to customers.
The bank is always seeking ways to innovate and its partnership with the Malaysian start-up enables its customers to perform cross border payments at an affordable, transparent and swift manner.
In addition, this is in-line with the aspiration of Bank Negara Malaysia for financial institutions to provide value-added services to customers by leveraging on fintech-based solutions, according to the bank’s Chief Treasury Officer.
With the introduction of the start-ups Bank FX service, the bank can now enjoy low-cost and simple cross border transfers with 38 available currencies across 58 countries.
The cross-border transaction rides on blockchain technology that provides benefits such as transparency, enhanced security, improved efficiency, speed of transaction and at lower costs.
Banks in Malaysia have been partnering local start-ups and companies in greater numbers this year.
For example, a recent report noted that a Malaysian universal bank has introduced an app which enables merchants to accept credit card payments from customers without the need for a point-of-sale terminal.
The nation’s largest bank is the first in South-East Asia to introduce the payment solution, which is supported by the latest Android-based smartphones that are equipped with Near-Field Communication (NFC) and Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) technologies.
The bank aims to enable over 10,000 device acceptance points within the next 12 months. The app, named Tap2Phone, is expected to generate an additional RM350 million in the value of merchant transactions, on top of RM60bil in current transactions.
The simplicity of transactions on the app is the invaluable service it provides; by allowing merchants to provide seamless and instantaneous payment options for their customers through a secure and easy-to-use mobile payment technology.
Continuing commitment to spurring the country’s economic growth is a key priority for the bank. This is done by supporting the growth of SME development as well as the nation’s cashless agenda by leveraging on technology.
The bank expects the service to benefit businesses and give them greater control in managing their daily operations. The app was designed to cater to small businesses as well as delivery and sales agents.
Merchants will simply have to download and launch the Tap2Phone app on their smartphones and customers can tap their payment cards on the back of the merchant’s smartphone to transact. The fee for the service is RM5 per month.
Tap2Phone accepts all contactless payments for transactions of RM250 and below. It will be fully rolled out in September 2019.
