Southeast Asia’s leading on-demand transportation group Grab Malaysia has received the go-ahead from Bank Negara Malaysia to offer GrabPay e-money services in Malaysia.

It said yesterday the services will be launched in stages in the first half of 2018 and they would allow Malaysians to enjoy a simple, safe and rewarding mobile payment system. The new GrabPay e-money services would help customers and merchants in emerging economies like Malaysia and elsewhere in Southeast Asia go cashless and cardless, it said.

Through the same Grab app, consumers will be able to access not just transport services, but all of the most important everyday services, whether it’s paying for food and drinks, the latest gadgets in shops or making transfers to friends.

Managing Director of GrabPay Jason Thompson said cash was still the most important payment method for many Malaysian SMEs and middle-class consumers, despite most adults having a deposit account.

“As one of the region’s most frequently used consumer apps with 72 million downloads, we are happy to work with Bank Negara to drive mass adoption of mobile payments in Malaysia and across Southeast Asia,” he said.

Demonstrating the GrabPay e-wallet at the Bank Negara Payment Systems Forum, Thompson said according to statistics by Bank Negara, cash handling and services cost RM 1.8bil a year to the banking industry and electronic-based payments may result in savings amounting to up to 1% of acountry’s economy due to lower retail payment cost versus cash transactions. – The Star

First VN cable system link to Southeast Asia grid

Vietnam’s CMC Telecom on Thursday officially inaugurated its Cross Vietnam Cable System (CVCS) in Hnaoi, which is the only system in Vietnam directly connecting the SoutheastAsia grid.

With a total length of more than 2,500km, the cable system passes through 19 provinces and cities in the country from the northern Lang Son Province to the southern Tay Ninh Province. The system has a total investment of 500 billion dong.

Thank to the system, Vietnam has access to the Southeast Asian region, connecting Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia and Thailand. The system would be connected to most sea cable routes in the region.

The CVCS has been built using the latest technology, with a bandwidth capacity of up to 9.6Tbps. It would help Vietnamese firms experience a continuous, stable and more completed information and technology infrastructure. On the same day, CMC Telecom also inaugurated its third data centre with a total area of 1,200 square metres. -Viet Nam News

No surcharge for debit card holders: banker

Indonesian private lender Bank Central Asia (BCA) has denied that its customers have been required to pay a surcharge when making transactions using their debit cards.

“We only require merchants to pay a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) fee, and never request customers to pay a surcharge,” Santoso Liem, the director of the bank, said in Jakarta on Thursday.

According to a Bank Indonesia regulation issued as part of the launch of the national payment gateway on Monday, merchants have to pay an MDR fee of 0.15 percent on on-us, and 1 percent on off-us banking transactions to debit card issuers. Previously, merchants were only required to pay for off-us transactions.

However, many bank customers misinterpreted the report and thought they were also required to pay the surcharge.

Santoso said BCA would begin to implement the new MDR fees beginning in January, next year, and would issue a penalty to merchants that imposed a surcharge to the holders of the bank’s debit cards. – The Jakarta Post

Senate, House agree on 5% cosmetic tax

The Philippines’ House of Representatives and Senate have reached a compromise and agreed to impose a fivepercent excise tax on cosmetic surgeries and body enhancements for aesthetic reasons.

“Cosmetic tax at 5 per cent approved by Bicam,” Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said in a text message yesterday.

The bicameral conference committee had been meeting to reconcile their versions of the proposed Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) act.

Drilon earlier said that there was strong opposition from congressmen on the imposition of cosmetic tax.– Philippine Daily Inquirer