| Danial Norjidi |
THE BruPay suite of applications is now live on the App Store and Google Play, following an official launch event at Avenue 41 yesterday.
BruPay, a Bruneian registered FinTech company established in 2017, specialises in developing cashless payment systems. It offers consumers and merchants secure and instantaneous payment at their fingertips.
The launch follows the approval on August 24, 2018 for BruPay to operate within Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam (AMBD)’s FinTech regulatory sandbox.
It was explained during the launch that BruPay’s eWallet app allows users to send and receive money by scanning QR codes or direct to registered mobile numbers. All users have to do is sign up, verify their account and top up their wallet.
Top up options include online bank transfer and cash at participating stores, with more options to be added soon.
There is also the BruPay Merchant app, which aims to give business of all sizes access to e-payment and make merchant-customer transactions more streamlined.
In addition, its complement and online portal, BruPay Back Office, allows merchants to digitally measure their performance, tracking all sales and transactions, with the option of daily or monthly reports.
For the full merchant suite, business owners are required to register their account with the BruPay business team, who can be contacted at biz@brupay.com.
All transactions conducted on the BruPay platform are free, with BruPay only charging a nominal two per cent withdrawal fee.
BruPay CEO Sophian Mat Suny commented, “QR code payments have been growing in other parts of the world and many cash-intensive merchants, such as hawkers and taxi drivers, are accepting them.
“We’re proud that Brunei is heading in that same direction and with the technology BruPay is introducing, paying through QR codes at the pasar malam will soon be a reality.”
Speaking to the Bulletin, the CEO highlighted, “BruPay gives you the opportunity to make payments without having to carry a wallet around. It helps you to do top-ups and have an easier time with your e-Wallet.”
He noted technological advancements around the world, and said that BruPay gives the opportunity for Brunei to move forward and also be high tech.
“Bruneians are very tech savvy; we will adopt to technology very well, but it’s not an adoption of technology based on how the technology is set up, it’s an adoption of technology that suits our lifestyle. This is where BruPay comes in. The solutions have to be done in a way that Bruneians can use it.”
He underlined that BruPay can help businesses, including those that operate using social media like Instagram and Facebook.
“This is the point that we are emphasising for BruPay: You can go about and actually make your business work using the eWallets.”
The CEO affirmed that the aim of BruPay is to make people’s lives easier.
On what is next, he shared that BruPay will be going to the Singapore FinTech Festival tomorrow, after having won the FinTech PitchFest in Brunei last August.
“The next phase will be merchant acquisitions and partnerships for BruPay. We are working with a lot of government bodies as well as non-government bodies on what we can do with BruPay as solutions for them,” he added. “So now it’s all about creating the critical mass and the numbers.”