Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on January 20, 2020

KUALA LUMPUR: TNG Digital Sdn Bhd is expecting to at least double the number of merchants accepting its e-wallet service — Touch ’n Go eWallet — this year, from the current 110,000 merchants, according to its chief executive officer Ignatius Ong.

“Probably nine months ago, it was a lot more difficult [to achieve that] than where we are now. The simple fact is, when we meet a merchant, they will ask what is our user base? Because they want to know what is the value we can offer them,” he told The Edge Financial Daily in an interview.

And that “value” is now Touch ’n Go eWallet’s 6.5 million-strong user base, Ong said, a significant improvement from just two million users a year ago.

“With a 6.5 million-user base, the merchants know what Touch ’n go eWallet is now. Basically, the education [on e-wallets] has done its work, and they will have access to 6.5 million pairs of eyeballs. Nine months ago, scepticism about e-wallets was relatively higher,” he said.

Ong is also unfazed by the fact that Touch ’n Go eWallet started later than some competitors, thanks to its advantage of being connected to highway toll payments.

“Our unique selling point is the fact that we are accepted at tolls. As of today, we have 20 highways — all of them use open-system toll payments. We have not got into close-system tolls yet, but [it will happen] very soon, in 2020,” he said, adding that TNG Digital’s target is to be present at all tolled highways in Malaysia.

Beyond highways, Ong said TNG Digital intends to leverage  Ant Financial’s technology to enable Malaysians to spend using Touch ’n Go eWallet overseas.

“We are also going to look into enabling this e-wallet to be used cross-border. Imagine if you go to China and you need to download another e-wallet, you may not be used to it. The familiarity is not there. But what if I tell you the same Touch ’n Go eWallet can be used in China?” he said.

Ant Financial, formerly known as Alipay, is an affiliate company of China’s Alibaba Group. It owns a 49% stake in TNG Digital, while the remaining 51% shareholdings are owned by Touch ’n Go Sdn Bhd, which is 52.22% owned by CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, 28% owned by PLUS Malaysia Bhd, and 20% by MTD Equity Sdn Bhd.

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