Business | Banking
ADCB launches mobile payment for small purchases
Bank partnering with US-based Mobibucks
- By Samia Badih, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 June 2, 2011
Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) announced the launch of a new payment method for its clients that will allow them to make purchases of up to Dh300 at a time using their mobile phone number, officials of the bank said yesterday during a media briefing.
ADCB has partnered with Mobibucks, a mobile payments solutions company based in the United States, to put out its new mobile payment service called ‘Mobi', which will be available in the market next month.
"The concept behind the Mobi payment system will be the first of its kind offered by a bank anywhere in the world — a patented cashless, card-less, paperless and phone-less payment targeted at the millennium," said Ala'a Eraiqat, Chief Executive Officer at ADCB.
ADCB clients will first have to create a virtual account online, based on their mobile number and a secret pin number, which they will be able to use later to make the purchase.
Code-enabled payment
Once at one of the locations that accepts the Mobi service, customers — even without having their mobile phones with them — will enter their mobile number, followed by their pin to make the payment, instead of paying in cash.
With almost 70 to 80 per cent of payment transactions still made in cash, Eraiqat said, such a service has immense potential.
"We are very optimistic. We hope this is going to be the new Twitter of banking," he told Gulf News, adding that its success would really depend on word of mouth as people try it, like it and tell others about it.
"It depends on people's reaction. If people like it, it will become very popular. If they don't like it, we will have to make adjustments to it."
A Mobi account can be topped up to Dh1,000 and the maximum transaction one can make at one time is Dh300, said Arup Mukhopadhyay, Head of Consumer Banking at ADCB. "This mobile payment service will be used for frequent low-value purchases among the defined target segment. It is a logical extension of the other easy-to-use and secure electronic services offered by the bank," he added.
The bank is targeting about 50 to a 100 locations for the Mobi service, which would include coffee shops, restaurants, movie theatres, entertainment outlets, etc.
"This is the first step in bringing a simple, convenient and secure payment solution to the rest of the Middle East and North Africa. We expect to add a number of new customers shortly, allowing even more consumers to benefit from this new payment alternative," said Ziad Al Shobaki, Managing Director of the Mobibucks Mena operation.
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