A Malaysian company, Mobile Money International, is turning the mobile phone into an e-wallet and a payment device. Using Mobile Money’s service, called Mobile ATM, you can pay your bills and also purchase items at the point of sale using their payment system which is based on SMS.

To date Mobile Money has signed up two major banks, Hong Leong Bank and Bumiputra Commerce Bank with a combined user base of 3.5 million customers. They are also aiming to increase the number of merchants who accept the Mobile Money payment system from 2,500 at launch to 100,000 by next year.

The service, called Mobile ATM, gives you two ways to make a payment.

1. Remote Payment
Mobile ATM customers wanting to make a purchase would only need to provide their mobile phone number at participating merchants and enter a six-digit security pin. Mobile ATM will place the payment on the customer’s credit card bill and send an SMS to the customer to confirm the transaction.

2. Face-to-face Payment
Mobile ATM also comes with an e-cash feature, allowing users to withdraw cash using their mobile phones. An e-cash number would be issued to the customer and that number would then be provided to the participating merchant instead of a cash payment.

The service, and the Mobile ATM name is very apt – consider your SIM card as the ATM card, your mobile phone screen as the ATM screen, and your mobile phone keypad as the ATM keypad to enter your PIN and perform transactions.

I have met the Mobile Money managing director, Mr Lee Eng Sia, and I’m excited about the prospects of this new payment system. I’ll definitely be in line to try the service when it launched next month.

Filed under: Mobile World

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