Social banking with CIMB OctoPay
- CIMB’s OctoPay FB app is a welcome addition to the payment surroundings
- Banks have to do greater to unleash the latent ability of e-business in Malaysia
CIMB Bank has joined the ranks of Commonwealth Bank Australia, First National of South Africa, ICICI of India and ASB bank in New Zealand with the aid of launching OctoPay, a Facebook banking app.
Unlike Social networking, getting the ‘network effect’ in banking is discovered with the aid of heightening payments versus the bread-and-butter of financial savings and financing. Oddly, banks have only skimmed the surface of online bills; and allowed the likes of Paypal and WePay to occupy a niche in the economic transaction cost chain.
I am one way or the other reminded of the way IBM neglected the TCPIP switch and allowed Cisco to become what it's miles these days.
In economics, the ‘community impact’ is done when the price of the product will increase with the growth of user participation. A classic example is the cellphone; it's far nearly vain except any individual else has the phone and the fee increases exponentially with new customers. Similarly, on-line bills are useless except greater merchants and purchasers are mated.
Frankly, the largest gripe banking customers have with on line payments come from each ends of the transaction spectrum: The traders complaining about the problem of putting in a merchant account, and the ordinary user complaining about how restrained the listing of merchants to be had is.
Businesses thrive in a colourful marketplace, and that is largely the cause of on-line payment – to create a colourful and ‘green’ market where all of us gets to see what all and sundry is promoting and easily walk over and pay for it.
Currently, each financial institution creates a mini-market of its very own, and price transactions organically develop like a township in Rawang [a comparatively less cosmopolitan part of Kuala Lumpur – ED].
We are definitely missing the factor of the way impactful entrepreneurship and innovation can pressure a country’s competitive benefit vis-à-vis its economy. Better but, on-line payments allow a standard Malaysian to promote wares globally.
I say to banks, unleash the latent potential of e-enterprise in Malaysia. Heck, swoop in and nook the ‘social charge’ circuit before any individual does it for you. With Basel IV ruminating, Islamic banking and more scrutiny on fandangled derivatives, the days of vacuous money era is coming to an quit.
So right here’s my want listing for banks in Malaysia on the subject of social networks:
1) I’d like to have a BlogSpot or WordPress widget that permits bloggers to collect money from each buddies and strangers (I accept as true with a financial institution better than Paypal). With buddies it have to be splendid clean, 3 clicks max, because you have already got their banking info.
2) A micro-mortgage module that lets in friends to borrow cash from me. It’s my cash in spite of everything, and my buddies. (Loan sharks are giving everyone, which includes banks, a awful name).
3) A Facebook web page that incorporates a banking app to accept bills. I see a ton of small agencies already purveying their wares with a flaccid observe that asserts; here’s my banking account range.
4) Getting rid of physical credit card when paying on-line. The banks already have my details, I even have legal you to take money through a credit score facility; so why must I still key in my credit score card details with greater passwords? A notebook today comes with finger print scanner and video digital camera; and you get to SMS to double-verify that it’s honestly me …
five) All charity companies get to apply the banking services at no cost.
One more issue: Kudos, CIMB; et tu Maybank?
Bernard Sia is head of method at Mesiniaga Alliances Sdn Bhd. His critiques right here do no longer necessarily reflect the perspectives of Mesiniaga.
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