By KEVIN WONG / Pic By BLOOMBERG

Mobile payment will be the next big thing in the country’s financial transactions due to the high smartphone penetration and more people unshackle their worries of the safety of such payment method.

Mobile phone subscriptions reached 42.8 million users last year, with about 70% of the users are smartphone consumers.

The mushrooming of mobile payment companies such as AliPay and WeChat has added the excitement into the sector, with the acceptance of cashless payment options.

Monetary authority and related financial services companies are trying to accelerate the utilisation of mobile payments.

Fave Group Pte Ltd, which acquired Groupon Singapore, has introduced FavePay which has seen a month-on-month 100% rise in adoption rate.

“The increase of adoption of the mobile payment feature has subsequently resulted in a 400% increase in the acceptance of FavePay as a payment option among its merchant base,” said Fave founder Joel Neoh.

He said FavePay presents a simplified and user-friendly mobile payment option that offers convenience, savings and rewards in a single app. Fave also owns Groupon Indonesia and Groupon Malaysia.

He said Fave wants to provide businesses in a convenient way to easily accept payments, grow their business and connect with users. Since the launch of FavePay last April, Fave’s gross merchandise volume has consistently doubled.

“With 14.7% of Malaysians already utilising payment gateway services to make online purchases, the momentum is expected to continue throughout 2018. In the months to come and beyond, Fave is set to spur and support Malaysia’s mobile commerce transformation in reaching the nation’s cashless aspirations. “With that, we did not stop to offer a mobile payment option,” he said.

Meanwhile, Neoh added that Fave has recently introduced FaveBiz to help merchants understand their customers.

“FaveBiz allows merchants to track real-time transactions and understand purchasing trends. Merchants are also able to identify their customers’ preference while enhancing their rewards and loyalty programmes to benefit their patrons,” he said.

To date, Fave has partnered over 10,000 merchant outlets where it has expanded to Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Johor Baru, Ipoh, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, Singapore, Bandung, Surabaya, Bali and Jakarta.