In line with its township master plan, Bandar Utama City Centre (BUCC) is working with AmBank to enhance its cashless city initiatives together with AmBank’s suite of digital solutions through a strategic partnership.
Cashless and contactless payments are now enabled within Bandar Utama via BUCC’s APOS A8 Unified Payment Terminals at the 1 Utama Shopping Centre as well as other locations like Centrepoint, AVANTÉ Hotel and The Club @ Bukit Utama.
BUCC’s APOS A8 Unified Payment Terminal is a card terminal available at the merchant’s point of sale that accepts debit and credit card transactions, which also allows shoppers to digitally redeem and earn UPoints via Bandar Utama’s loyalty card ONECARD Privileges+ at participating outlets with each purchase.
“This partnership aligns with AmBank’s vision to be a key partner in fostering societal digital transformation through innovative and convenient financial solutions. It is timely as we forecast a higher footfall at shopping malls, particularly during the festivities period,” Dato’ Sulaiman Mohd Tahir, Group Chief Executive Officer, AmBank Group said.
“The country’s retail sales growth continues to rise to a crescendo amidst economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. In parallel, we observe a shift in consumer behaviour, coupled with the acceleration in digital adoption in the retail sector. This further strengthens the need for synergy between banks and the retail sector to boost customer engagement,” Dato’ Sulaiman Mohd Tahir added.
“Through the alliance of innovation between AmBank and BUCC, the APOS A8 Unified Payment Terminal now equips businesses with digital and alternative payment solutions directly via merchant’s point of sale, enhancing customer experience. Furthermore, it eliminates the need for merchants such as retailers in 1 Utama Shopping Centre to have multiple terminals to accept payments, resulting in a lower operating cost. As digital payments continue to gain traction with consumers reducing the need for cash, we see an opportunity for AmBank to accelerate this conversion by partnering with BUCC,” Aaron Loo, Managing Director, Retail Banking, AmBank said.
“This will bring benefits to customers as digital payments to physical merchants are extremely convenient as seen with the sharp growth in usage of Apple Pay, QR Payments as well as contactless cards,” Aaron added.
A pioneering force since the early beginning, 1 Utama boasts the first mall-side loyalty programme in the world – ONECARD Privileges+ introduced in 2006 and is officially the first mall to take the lead in launching the first retail mall E-wallet 1PAY in March 2019 and E-Commerce platform ONESHOP.com.my in January 2018 to drive electronic cashless payments and online shopping in Malaysia.
“This single integrated payment platform allows 1 Utama tenants, for example, to reconcile and track credit card payments with an all-in-one report together with our existing ONECARD transactions. This comprehensive holistic insight of shoppers’ payment behavior is useful for our tenants to customize their marketing approach for targeted promotions and campaigns,” he added.
On top of this, residents at Effingham Bandar Utama, 9 Bukit Utama and 1 Bukit Utama in Bandar Utama are also able to pay for utilities like electricity bills to Bandar Utama City Corporation via 1 Utama’s SuperApp digitally.
