Maybank and Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) today set a milestone in electronic payments in Malaysia with the launch of an innovative Online Bill service for customers who can now view and then pay their electricity bills via Maybank2u.com, without even having their physical bills.
This new service, Malaysia's first, was jointly launched by the President and CEO of Maybank, Dato' Sri Abdul Wahid Omar and President/CEO of Tenaga Nasional Berhad, Dato' Sri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh at a ceremony in Menara Maybank today.With this service, the actual electricity bill of a customer is made available at Maybank2u.com, and a customer simply has to download it and view it before making the payment online.
Speaking at the launch ceremony, Dato' Sri Abdul Wahid Omar said, "This new service reinforces Maybank's clear leadership in the payments business, particularly online payments. Maybank2u has a leading market share in the internet banking business accounting for about 55% of the total internet banking transaction value in the country. Payments via Maybank2u to TNB alone are about RM25 million a month or about RM300 million a year. With this Online Bill service, we are expecting to register a 20% growth in electricity bill payments via Maybank2u.com this year."
"This is a free service to customers. It offers a radical shift in the way customers of TNB and Maybank can manage their utility payments. Where previously they must have their hardcopy electricity bills when making payment, this is now no longer necessary," he added. "There is also no need to worry over wet, misplaced or lost bills as the bill is readily available on Maybank2u for your viewing and payment."
Meanwhile, President/CEO of TNB, Dato' Sri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh said, "This new service is a manifestation of TNB's effort to continuously improve its bill collections channels. Most importantly, this latest service will provide greater convenience to our customers which have reached 7 million recently."
He continued by stating that this service has received good response from the public by indicating the number of customers registered with this service although it has yet to be officially launched, "Based on our data, 6,286 customers have registered to use this new service even though we have yet to officially launch the service. This reflects strong interest amongst our customers to use the Online Bills service. We believe this signals potential growth in our customers' bill payment through Maybank2u.com."
Under this new service, customers who wish to view their TNB bills via M2U must be an M2U customer and also undertake a one-time registration of their TNB account at M2U. They can then view their electricity bill for the current month as well as the two preceding months at any time. The amount reflected in the bill can be paid via direct debit from the customer's savings or current account.
TNB is currently the top payee corporation for payment via M2U with a monthly average of over 180,000 transactions made for electricity bill payments. The average monthly value of payments to TNB via M2U is over RM25 million which makes up about 11% of the total bill payment transaction value made via M2U.
Dato' Sri Abdul Wahid said that since 2007, M2U has been offering online statements of Maybank accounts where customers can view and print statements of their deposit, credit card and share trading accounts.
"Maybank will continue to invest in technology and work together with our partners to ensure that Maybank2u remains the portal of choice offering not only banking convenience, but also value added services such as bill payment, shopping, dining, entertainment and travel convenience," he said. "The third party electronic bill is a glimpse of the future expectations of customers from their service provider."
TNB bills can be paid via various Maybank electronic channels such as M2U, Kawanku Phone Banking and ATM. However, M2U is the preferred payment channel for TNB bills among Maybank customers with 95% paying via this internet banking portal, followed by phone banking and ATM.