The Bank of Ceylon is claiming another first, saying its SMS-based mobile phone payment service is the first in Sri Lanka. The new service was launched on Monday with the aim of changing the credit card transaction model with the use of mobile phones as a platform to offer new services to customers.
Bank of Ceylon Deputy General Manager, Product Development and Branches, Sam Samarasinghe told the Business Times, that BoC Pay Mate offers the bank’s six million customerseffortless ease and greater speed for settlement of bills, fund transfers from person to person (P 2 P) and inquiry of account balances via SMS.
‘BoC PayMate’ raises the potential of the mobile phone to a new dimension, by giving impetus to the drive towards banking without frontiers, he added. He noted that its service could be linked to savings, current accounts or credit card accounts. Four leading mobile phone service providers Sri Lanka Telecom, Dialog, Mobitel and Etisalat in the country have been included in the ‘BoC PayMate’ scheme and therefore it is widely open to all BoC customers without regard to their brand preferences in communication, he said. BOC PayMate plans to grow its merchant network across all categories including retail stores, food and beverage outlets, online sites and utility bill payments to enable mobile transactions.
Mr .Samarasinghe said that BoC PayMate’ will have a series of value additions and settlement of bills in favour of Sri Lanka Telecom Ceylon Electricity Board [CEB] and National Water Supplies & Drainage Board [NWB], P 2 P fund transfers and balance inquiries are offered under the first stage. SLT, CEB and NWB are at the forefront of supplying utility services to a large number of consumers in Sri Lanka.
‘BoC PayMate’ will enable BoC customers to settle their utility bills through their mobile phones from their home, offices or any other location, avoiding the compulsion of queuing up at a bill payment centres or a bank branch. Same degree of ease and convenience has been added on to balance inquiries and P 2 P fund transfers too. With ‘BoC PayMate’, the mobile phone in the hands of the customer becomes a handy tool, eliminating the need for a visit to a bank branch or an ATM site, he added. |
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