Fiserv Enables P2P Payments For Bangkok Bank

Fiserv, a FinTech solutions provider, has partnered with Bangkok Bank to extend advanced mobile banking services to its 17 million customers.

The new functionalities of the Thailand-based bank’s mobile banking app called Bualuang mBanking have been developed on Mobiliti Edge, Fiserv’s mobile banking and payments platform, Fiserv said in an announcement.

Additional upgrades now enable P2P money transfers for the banks’ customers, advanced push notifications, alerts that are delivered through the app, and gives them the ability to use their mobile banking app on alternate devices, including tablets and the Apple Watch.

“People are thinking about life, not financial services. Whether topping up a transit pass, sending money to family or checking your balance, banking and payments must be easy and convenient,” said Marc Mathenz, Fiserv’s managing director of Asia Pacific. “Bangkok Bank has worked collaboratively with Fiserv to deliver superior mobile banking services and provide new digital experiences to its customers.”

With the P2P payments service, Bangkok Bank’s customers can now send and receive money using just a phone number to even consumers who do not have an account with the bank. The mAlerts service, on the other hand, lets customers opt in for push notifications from the bank.

“A customer might receive a weekly balance reminder or low balance alert, or a credit card payment due alert, prompting them to log-in to mobile banking and initiate payment,” the press release noted.

The push for upgrades on the bank’s mobile banking platform comes amidst a growing consumer demand for mobile banking in Thailand. According to research from Nielsen, 90 percent of people in the greater Bangkok area now own a mobile phone and about 84 percent own one in other urban areas.

This high penetration of cellphone users, Bangkok Bank says, provides it with an opportunity to further its app’s current user base, which has increased to 1.3 million since its launch in 2009.

“Over the past several years, we have been working on shifting our product set and culture to deliver leading digital experiences, and the mobile channel has been central to our strategy to support more users and new services,” said Bangkok Bank’s President Chartsiri Sophonpanich.