MOLPay: Taking on Southeast Asia, One Payment at a Time

With the advent of e-Commerce and online transactions, deploying a reliable payment gateway is needed to ensure a smooth transaction – both for the business and consumer. Business Today speaks to Malaysia’s pioneering integrated payment solutions providers, MOLPay Sdn Bhd and its Chief Executive Officer, Eng Sheng Guan on what the company has been up to. Over the years, it has grown leaps and bounds, from a local player to becoming the leading payment gateway in Southeast Asia. Read on to find out more.

Eng Sheng Guan, CEO of MOLPay Sdn Bhd

Business Today (BT): Tell us about MOLPay Sdn Bhd and how does it fit into the MOL Group’s business ecosystem?

Eng Sheng Guan (Eng): MOLPay has extended MOL’s e-Payment ecosystem from gaming towards e-Commerce. With the MOL’s extensive offline payment points, MOLPay has rolled out MOLPay Cash, which allows buyers who do not have credit card or internet banking to be able to perform purchases online. MOLPay Cash has become the 3rd most popular non-card channel after Maybank2U and CIMBClicks. MOLPay is also serving as a payment gateway for MOL to process e-Payment regionally.

BT: What has MOLPay been doing in the last few years after delisting from NASDAQ?

Eng: The delisting does not affect MOLPay – as the listing & delisting exercise was at the parent company level. Over the years, MOLPay has worked tirelessly to become the leading payment services provider in the region. We are continuing to invest heavily on research and development in order to fashion a world-class payment system. MOLPay is now trusted by many global merchants such as Facebook, Lazada, Agoda, Expedia, Grab, etc to process their payments regionally.

BT: Do you have any new products or services in the pipeline? If yes, can you share with us some details about them?

Eng: As a payment services provider for many global brands, we are expanding our payment channels footprint throughout Asia – in order to better serve the existing merchants – as well as to harness new opportunities. We believe that a cashless society can be achieved by using QR code payment, such as our e-wallet product, One2Pay will penetrate into tier 3 and tier 4 markets for greater financial inclusivity of the e-Payment ecosystem.

BT: As an integrated payment solution provider, MOLPay faces stiff competition – locally and globally. How do you stay competitive? How do you differentiate yourself from your competitors?

Eng: Southeast Asia consists of majority non-card customers. MOLPay offers last miles payment to more than 100 banks and 40,000 physical payment points in Sourtheast Asia. We work with most of the global payment services providers when it comes to non-card payments, so that their merchants can tap into the vast market opportunity through our extensive payment reach throughout the region.

BT: The company has been operating seven years now. How much has the change in the industry influences MOLPay’s business plans? What are some of the opportunities and challenges you see in the industry?

Eng: The payment industry is seeing rapid development and restructuring driven mainly by China based payment players, such as AliPay and WeChat. The gap between online and offline payment processes is becoming blurred as traditional retails payments via credit card and debit card are facing strong competition from many e-Wallet players, who are offering their QR code payment systems, which can offer more attractive fees and other benefits.

MOLPay, as the last miles payment services provider, will work with e-Wallet players for top up payment processing. We also foresee opportunities in the Internet of Thing (IoT) space, which points to invisible payment functionality in the near future.

BT: Which agencies does MOLPay work with locally? In terms of support, how have they helped the company in growing the business?

Eng: We are working very closely with MDEC GAIN and MATRADE to explore the opportunities in the region. The GAIN team has provided us with deep insights on markets and the best means to access them as well as providing us greater visibility throughout the region. Both agencies help to drive faster expansion by providing us with market information and also with their business support ecosystem in the region with business matching.

BT: What are your aspirations for MOLPay moving forward?

Eng: We are determined to grow our significant payment network throughout Southeast Asia and then wider outwards into Asia. We believe that there will be even more exciting opportunities – ones that will accelerate cashless adoption across Southeast Asia. MOLPay will grow 10 times bigger and we expect to achieve 300% growth in 2018.

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