PETALING JAYA: Capital A Bhd
’s digital financial services arm BigPay is gearing up for expansion and is eyeing the lucrative travel segment in Asean.
Speaking with StarBiz, BigPay chief executive officer Zubin Rada Krishnan said the travel segment is an immediate key focus for the digital platform and it would work closely within the airasia ecosystem to help people build positive habits as they spend abroad and save for travel.
“We also want to ensure that travellers enjoy a seamless payment experience when they make bookings as well as while they are spending while on travel.”
BigPay currently operates in Malaysia and Singapore and provides a diversified range of financial services from payments and transactions, stashes to put money aside for savings, credit, remittances, bill payments, mobile top-ups and more.
He said expanding further into Asean would allow the digital platform to level up the lives of more South-East Asians, one transaction at a time, through its range of financial service products.
“BigPay also wants to help build and connect the region’s community by empowering them with financial services.
“For example, we want to help Indonesians working in Malaysia to easily remit money to family back home, and help their family in Indonesia to invest that money, or provide them with credit when there’s a shortfall.
“In the long run, we will help small businesses in Asean to broaden their activities beyond their own borders with innovative and easily accessible financial services,” Rada Krishnan said.
He said it plans to commence business in Thailand this year, with Indonesia and the Philippines following in early 2024. In the Philippines, the company would be partnering with UnionDigital Bank to bring BigPay to that market, he added.
For example, he said that in Thailand, BigPay has a strong local team building a customised proposition to address Thai customers’ pain points and demands.
At the same time, it is upbeat it can help move the needle in improving and educating the consumers on financial literacy and the variety of services they have access to in this region.
As for BigPay’s plans to work with airasia Superapp, which is Capital A’s travel superapp, Rada Krishnan noted that: “BigPay will power seamless payment experiences in airasia Superapp, making it easy for people in Asean to pay for their travel in a simple one-click journey.
“When customers need help with paying for big purchases, or for money on their travels – BigPay can offer accessible credit.
“We will also help South-East Asians to cultivate a habit of putting money aside through Stashes where users can round up and or top up each transaction they make on BigPay, eventually building a Stash big enough to pay for their dream holiday.
“Our customers will also benefit from a range of exciting, unique offers within airasia Superapp already, such as exclusive previews and priority access for airasia promos and sales. There will definitely be more to come,” he added.
Commenting on its competitive edge compared with other local and regional financial technology (fintech) companies, he said BigPay’s mission is to empower regional customers with the financial services they need to level-up their lives, one transaction at a time.
At the core, he said the digital platform provides customers with features that allow them to take back control of their finances, including a comprehensive but simple to understand financial feed that enables users to figure out where they are spending and what they can do to better manage their outflow.
“We also have accessible and easy to understand credit to assist customers when they need it.
“Customers can round-up or top-up a little extra with every transaction and accumulate this in a BigPay stash, which can then be used to repay a loan, to remit to family abroad or make the big-ticket purchases that will improve their lives.
“Beyond this, we also offer all-in-one lifestyle insurance to protect customers as they go about their everyday lives, and the ability to make mobile prepaid top-ups and pay bills easily, taking the hassle out of everyday payments like these.
“At the same time, we are also making it easy for BigPay users to earn rewards and get exclusive discounts when they book travel using airasia Superapp, and this is a proposition that only BigPay customers can enjoy,” he said.
Delving into the outlook of the fintech business for this year, he said the digital platform is optimistic given that travel has picked up significantly and it is working very closely with the airasia ecosystem to serve customers in this space, in Malaysia and throughout the region.
“We believe that customers will continue to benefit from the innovation that BigPay and others in the fintech space will provide.
“As the focus of investors and stakeholders pivots to profitability over pure growth, we believe we will see the industry focusing on building truly differentiated offerings that customers will be willing to pay for,” Rada Krishnan added.
