Call for e-Wallet firms to work together and boost industry

“We are working closely with Paynet (Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd) as we want to be part of this network, ” Khairil (pic) said at a virtual press conference yesterday.

PETALING JAYA: E-wallet providers have to work together to move the industry towards inter-wallet operability where money credits can be moved between different e-wallet operators, according to Boost chief executive officer Mohd Khairil Abdullah.

“There are a lot of things the regulators are doing to support inter-operability. The interoperable credit transfer framework had been issued by Bank Negara to promote wallet interoperability.

“We are working closely with Paynet (Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd) as we want to be part of this network, ” Khairil said at a virtual press conference yesterday.

“Paynet is like the extension of the regulatory arm. I’m on the industry advisory council on Paynet and I believe they are doing all the right things to promote interoperability, ” Khairil added.

He said that e-Wallet industry players need to also cooperate and adopt a different approach to their thinking when dealing with inter wallet operability.

“It is not about players killing each other but it’s about us working together to kill cash, to a certain extent.

“We are just scratching the surface in terms of overall e-Wallet usage (given that) cash is still dominant and other forms of non-cash is also still very dominant compared with e-Wallet operators.

“The big competition for us right now is cash, ” Khairil said.

He said there is an issue now with industry players having a “winner takes it all” mentality which would not be very healthy for the industry.

“If you adopt this mindset then you’re going to do whatever it takes to eliminate the next person. And by doing so, unfortunately you’re not letting the industry grow. We are a proponent of inter-wallet operability and we want to work with like-minded wallet management teams, ” Khairil said.

Boost which commemorated its third anniversary yesterday believed that the e-Wallet scene would grow similar to the mobile network providers in Malaysia.

“In the world of telco networks we have the mobile virtual network operator such as Tune Talk. All the smaller niche players bring a certain value to their consumers that other players cannot replicate, ” Khairil said.

“Similarly, there will be some of these niche wallet players which we can partner with and they will be able to find ways to continue, ” he added.

Khairil said that when mobile telephony was introduced, none of the players was able to connect to each other’s networks but now it is possible to do so.

“Look at how the mobile telephone industry has grown as a result of this and I hope this will happen here in the e-Wallet space and I think Paynet has a role to play here, ” he said.