Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR: Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) has teamed up with the Visa Group to launch a new remittance service that allows any Maybank customer to transfer funds from a current or savings account to any Visa cardholder in over 200 countries through the Internet, in near real time.

Dubbed “M2U Visa Direct”, the new service comes with a fee of RM10 per transaction. However, this fee will be waived for those using the service till end of the year. 

Maybank’s head of community financial services for Malaysia, Hamirullah Boorhan (pic), said the new service will be a “game changer in fund transfers” because it simplifies banking transactions for the customers. 

“So whether it’s to your friend somewhere who’s buying something for you, or your child who is studying overseas or anyone else you need to send money to, you now have a new alternative of transferring money to them in an instant,” he told reporters at the launch yesterday. “In whatever currency so that they can either withdraw it via an ATM (automated teller machine) or pay for a purchase using their cards,” he said. 

Hamirullah said that the new service is expected to boost Maybank’s remittance business, especially through online transactions. 

The bank’s online remittance via Maybank’s M2U is currently at RM550 million a year. 

“Online remittance via M2U has been growing at an annual rate of 30% over the last few years and with this new service we are expecting it to rise to 40% in the next year,” said Hamirullah. 

He added that M2U has been growing steadily with 145 million transactions, which translates into a 27% year-on-year growth.

 

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 19, 2014.

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