by NUR HAZIQAH A MALEK/ pic by RAZAK GHAZALI

EZ MONEY Express Sdn Bhd plans to introduce money services business (MSB) agent programmes in West Malaysia with large retail organisations and other entities pending approval by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).

EZ Money CEO Lim Ching Seng said the expansion is already in motion as the company has given a few locations for its operations in West Malaysia to the central bank.

“Once that (approval) is done, these locations that we have chosen will begin operating, which means that our expansion is already in motion,” he said at the third partnership extension ceremony with MoneyGram yesterday.

Lim said there are four agents that the company will be working with to expand its business in the peninsula.

“We chose to use a different model compared to the one we have in East Malaysia where most of our branches are our own, but here, we wish to partner with agents and build the network,” he said.

Recently, the company has secured a master collaboration agreement with MBE Business Corp Sdn Bhd, the world’s largest franchise network of retail shopping, postal, printing and business service centres to provide remittance services at all participating MBE locations.

EZ Money currently has agents in four locations, namely Ipoh, Kepong, Puchong and Berjaya Times Square.

“MBE has its presence in 105 locations and is planning to go to 300 locations in two to three years. So, we are working together with them to provide services in most of their outlets,” he said.

EZ Money had also extended its partnership with MoneyGram until the year 2024, where it plans to leverage on the immigrants market for money transfer.

MoneyGram Asia-Pacific and South Asia head Yogesh Sangle said immigrants represent 15% of the total workforce in Malaysia, giving the firm opportunities to expand its base in the country.

“For Malaysia, last year RM38 billion worth of money was sent out from the country, while RM11 billion came into the country,” he said.

Sangle is optimistic the growth rate will continue to increase yearly.

According to Lim, last year, 120,000 transactions valued at RM120 million were made via MoneyGram from overall 600 million transactions across East Malaysia.

“The numbers are one thing, but the expansion means to increase the touch points for the customers so that they can experience the face-to-face transactions, so the number of transactions are expected to increase,” he said.