Maybank and KFC Malaysia today announced a partnership to enable payments using Maybank QRPay at KFC restaurants, making the brand as the first largest quick service restaurant chain in Malaysia to offer the convenience of payment using QR codes through the Maybank App.
The partnership was launched by Group President & CEO of Maybank, Datuk Abdul Farid Alias and President & Chief Executive of Johor Corporation cum Chairman of QSR Brands, Dato’ Kamaruzzaman Abu Kassim during a special ceremony held at KFC The Curve, Petaling Jaya. Also present at the event were Dato’ Seri Mohamed Azahari Mohamed Kamil, Managing Director of QSR Brands, and Dato’ John Chong, Group CEO, Community Financial Services Maybank.
Datuk Farid said the partnership between Maybank and KFC Malaysia is part of ongoing efforts by both organisations to provide greater customer convenience, enhance efficiency and further drive the country’s cashless payments agenda.
“Today, we are creating a partnership aimed at enhancing customer experience through a payment eco-system that will further minimise the need for carrying cash while also benefitting merchants in many ways,” added Datuk Farid. “With over 11 million internet banking users – of which more than 4 million use mobile banking – we believe that businesses, especially SMEs, can benefit from Maybank’s large customer base when they are connected to our digital platforms such as through Maybank QRPay.”
Datuk Farid said that Malaysia continues to see increasing adoption of cashless technology and is expected to join mature economies like China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Korea in a few years’ time. “This upward trend is reflected in the growing number of our registered Maybank2u users who access the platform via mobile devices and computers, and who are increasingly opting for non-cash based transactions.”
According to Dato’ Seri Mohamed Azahari, KFC has been embarking its digital transformation journey through a number of technology-driven initiatives that have been carefully strategized to enhance overall customer experience.
“To ensure that we are able to extend our reach and cater to the increasing demand for excellent customer service delivery and immersive experience; comprehensive digital strategies are set in place to provide easy accessibility, improved speed and greater flexibility for our customers from the point of ordering, to payment, to the product delivery,” he said.
“This year saw the activation of cashless transaction in our restaurants with digital payment option through credit and debit card. Today, we will unveil the capability of QR payment method in partnership with Maybank as part our customer-centric strategy to provide seamless and value-added service,” he explained.
Dato’ Seri Mohamed Azahari added, “Bank Negara has predicted that our country will transform into a cashless society by the year 2020. Therefore, we feel that the integration of mobile payment option like QRpay in KFC restaurants, is a natural progression to ensure that QSR is one with the movement and maintained to be at forefront of the future commerce in Malaysia.”
This digital payment system has been rolled-out at 11 KFC restaurants namely KFC Puduraya, Pavilion 2, Bukit Bintang, KL Sentral, Mid Valley Megamall, KLIA2 Arrival and Departure, Sunway Pyramid, Shah Alam Section 7, The Curve and VSQ. It will be progressively made available in all KFC point of sales nationwide by the first quarter of 2019.
With this new service, customers using Maybank QRPay at KFC outlets will have the convenience of making payments by simply opening the QRPay feature within the Maybank App. The customer then has to use the “Pay” function to generate a QR code on the mobile phone which will then be scanned by the card terminal scanner at the point of sale. The purchase amount is then debited from the customer’s selected deposit account and the transaction completed at the cashier.
Apart from the convenience enjoyed by customers, this new arrangement promises greater efficiency to retail merchants as the QRPay transactions are integrated into the point of sale cash register, providing the merchants with full details of all payments made.
Maybank was the first bank in Malaysia to offer cashless payment convenience via QR codes when it introduced this service in January this year. To date, the Bank has secured over 160,000 merchants who offer this payment option, comprising small traders, F&B outlets, retail merchants and beauty centres.
Under this partnership with KFC Malaysia, the Maybank platform will also provide the capability for QR payments via Alipay and WeChat, aimed mainly at enabling visitors from China to make payments seamlessly at KFC outlets in Malaysia.
