Service launched with BlackBerry creates low cost customer acquisition opportunities for PermataBank
BlackBerry's BBM Money in Indonesia has been hailed a success by mobile money businesses, Monitise, with its joint venture collaborator Astra International (AGIT Monitise Indonesia) in partnership with Indonesian financial institution PT Bank Permata Tbk (PermataBank).
Since going live at the end of February 2013, the service has attracted more than 60,000 registered users towards its target of 200,000 by the end of 2013.
BBM Money gives BlackBerry Messenger customers in Indonesia the ability to instantly create and access a mobile money account from their BlackBerry smartphone and make real time payments to their BBM contacts who are also signed up to the service.
The simple and secure service also enables users to buy mobile airtime credit and transfer money to bank accounts. Uniquely the service is integrated with BBM itself, allowing the user to be in a chat, make a peer-to-peer payment, and return to the same conversation. BBM Money can be used by consumers with access to the service regardless of whether they have a PermataBank bank account.
PermataBank Retail Banking director, Lauren Sulistiawati, commented: 'We are delighted with the level of customer adoption that we have experienced so far. The popularity of the service is another indication that mobile plays a key role in the future of the banking and payments industry across Indonesia. We have also been particularly excited by the way in which BBM Money has quickly opened up a new, direct route to new-to-bank customers. The ability to engage with new customers and significantly lower the cost of customer acquisition is a real advantage for any financial institution.'
Calvin Lim, director of AGIT Monitise, commented: 'We are encouraged by the adoption trend and customer usage to date. The service can only become more popular as more functionalities are added in the near future.'
Indonesia has a mobile penetration of 111%, according to Business Monitor International's Asia's Risk/Reward Ratings analysis for the telecoms sector. BlackBerry is the number one selling mobile smartphone in the market there, constituting more than half of all smartphones sold.
Darren Sugden, CEO of Monitise Asia Pacific, said: 'It is great to see such a positive early response to BBM Money. As the first comprehensive mobile money service in the world to be integrated with any messaging platform, pioneering the approach of turning a social network into a payments network, BBM Money brings second-to-none convenience to Indonesian consumers and businesses. The success of the service in a major world economy which is ideally suited to this type of innovation is a great example of how the financial industry can capitalise on the fast growing mobile, payments and banking space to meet the day to day needs of the consumer.'
