PETALING JAYA: Bayo Pay (M) Sdn Bhd has targeted to expand its footprint in the construction industry of one of the Middle East countries in the near future.
Chief executive officer Aznul Abdullah said Bayo Pay received interest from the country, which he did not disclose, to offer its solutions such as Mastercard prepaid card, private label e-wallet and a scalable digital platform.
Aznul said the company was in talks with another fintech provider in the Middle East for collaboration.
However, the plan has been put on hold after the Covid-19 pandemic.
"This is a very highly regulated industry. We believe in collaboration. Reason being is we are API (application programming interface) ready. Any overseas expansion plan, we want to partner with local overseas fintech companies. We have the proven solution that we implemented," he told the New Straits Times in an interview here recently.
"We are in talks with an interested party in the Middle East. We hope to finalise the partnership as soon as possible, or when things are more stabilise amid Covid-19 pandemic," he added.
Aznul said being a principal member of MasterCard Asia Pacific, Bayo Pay's open-loop payment solutions had gained worldwide acceptance with strong security protection that meets international standards of the payment and banking industry.
Bayo Pay has also targeted to launch its Construction Personnel Registration Card, or Green Card ID, which doubles as a payment card for the domestic construction industry by end of this month or early May.
Aznul said through partnership with the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), Bayo Pay was responsible to manage and operate the identification and payment infrastructure for more than 800,000 construction personnel registered with CIDB.
He said the partnership also provided Bayo Pay access to 75,000 construction companies, where the opportunity to further introduce new technology and value-added services exists via the rolling out of Bayo Pay's corporate solutions.
"These corporate solutions are expected to significantly contribute to process and financial improvements for construction companies and the construction industry as a whole," he said.
Aznul said to date, more than 500,000 CIDB Green Cards had been distributed to registered construction personnel all over Malaysia and this was expected to reach up to one million mark as the industry recovered to post-pandemic level.
"With the expected recovery of the construction sector and the various microservices to be offered as corporate solutions to construction companies, Bayo Pay expects that monthly transaction value to reach up to RM1 billion," he said.
CIDB Malaysia chief executive officer Datuk Ir Ahmad 'Asri Abdul Hamid said CIDB was passionate in implementing its digital transformation plan with Bayo Pay on the construction Personnel Registration Card, which will incorporate the ease of worldwide payment acceptance.
"As we all know, digital sectors have been playing an increasingly significant role as a new driver for Malaysia's economic growth," he said.
Mastercard Malaysia market development vice president said fintech now is an integral part of any economy - they are the key innovators and contributors to a country's growth and rapid digital transformation journey.
"Globally, Mastercard is partnering with fintech to enable them to scale and further extend efforts in bringing digital first solutions to consumers.
"Mastercard is excited to now have on board Bayo Pay as an issuer of Mastercard cards in Malaysia. Together, both organisations will provide a safe, seamless, and convenient payments experience that keep up with evolving digital needs and also enable the country to create an inclusive payments ecosystem," he said.