Rachael Boon
The Straits Times
Thursday, Nov 14, 2013
A new service that aims to make it easier to send money to or receive payment from another person via the mobile phone network was launched on Sunday.
Maybank Mobile Money as the service is called, is accessed through the bank’s existing smartphone or tablet app, although the bank customer has to be registered for online banking and the service. Once the app has been downloaded, a customer can transfer any amount from $5 to the $500 daily limit.
Take a Maybank customer who wants to chip in his share of the restaurant bill that was paid by a friend.
Using the mobile app, he can log into his account and key in his friend’s Singapore-registered mobile phone number and the amount owed. His friend’s bank account number is not needed.
He then receives a transaction code and PIN from Maybank.
The PIN is shared with the friend, who also needs to have downloaded the Maybank app. The friend enters the PIN into the app as well as his own mobile number, the transaction code and the account details at his bank, which does not have to be Maybank.
A one-time password will then be sent to the recipient, who enters it into the app in order to verify and complete the transaction.
The service reduces the need for cash or cheques and simplifies mobile banking transactions, which now require details such as bank account numbers. “It is a micro-payment money transfer service with no additional fees,” said Mr Lim Kuo Siong, Maybank Singapore’s head of information technology and virtual banking, at Sunday’s launch.
The same security measures for online banking apply to this service, he added, noting: “All these transactions, within the whole banking ecosystem, are traceable. We adopt and comply with the guidelines for technology risks.”
By next month, funds collected can also be credited to a Visa or MasterCard credit card issued by a Singapore bank.
Maybank Singapore’s virtual banking head, Ms Cynthia Liaw, said: “We are targeting to get 20,000 users in the next few months, both existing and new customers.”
The bank hopes to launch the service in the different countries in the region by the first half of next year
