BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN — The recently launched e-wallet application by local fintech startup BruPay is geared to accommodate to the needs of millennial entrepreneurs and consumers, its CEO said in an interview.
“We see the trend where millennials [prefer to run] pop up stores without having a physical shop… BruPay is a solution that will be very useful for them. It’s not so much the product itself, it is how we make it work for the community,” Sophian Mat Sunny said.
He added: “We aim to help businesses who don’t have card terminals or their own physical stores.”
He explained that the features of BruPay are merchant-friendly in order to encourage businesses to use the application. It has a customisable merchant suite which can help businesses track their inventory.
“There is an inventory database where our merchants can track the trend of sales,” he said, noting that this will enable to furnish merchants with useful data such as which items are popular.
“In the end, the ecosystem is here to help the Bruneian economy… we don’t want to be left behind.”
In a recent e-commerece survey, it was found that while most online shoppers in Brunei use credit or debit card to pay for their purchases, the use of e-wallets is still preferred over cash-on-delivery option.
The AITI study also found that 76 percent of Bruneians use e-commerce to shop or pay bills. More than half of these users comprise millennials.
‘Not going in PayPal direction’
According to Sophian, there are no immediate plans to enable BruPay to make cross border payments which would place it among the ranks of PayPal.
“With PayPal you can make international payments… BruPay is still very local, still a phone-based technology, so you cannot make international payment. Good regional comparisons [of the BruPay e-wallet] would be Grab Wallet or Fave in Malaysia.”
The BruPay CEO added that while it is slightly different from Grab Wallet in that there is no direct product line, it will let “the economy and users evolve it”.
“The advantage of Brupay is that it is a local-based company, so if there are changes within the local environment, we can make the changes,” Sophian said.
However, he said that they are working on a few projects to enhance BruPay.
“We are working on [a few collaborative projects] that is linked to Brupay. It is an evolution of the fintech services but it is not in the direction of PayPal. I cannot disclose details at the moment.”
0% charge for BruPay transactions
To further incentivise its uptake amongst the public, BruPay has made do with zero percent fee charge for registration and payment transactions.
Sophian is hopeful that this will encourage people to use the digital wallet.
“[There will only be a charge] of two percent when users withdraw money from their BruPay wallet,” he said, adding that for users, the maximum amount of withdrawal allowed per day is capped at $1,000, and $25,000 for businesses.
For those who have registered, money can be put into their BruPay wallet via bank transfer from Baiduri or BIBD. Alternatively, they can also directly deposit into their e-wallet at the BruPay office.
Ultimately, BruPay aims to create a cashless ecosystem through increased wallet acceptance in the sultanate.
“If you can pay for [more] things conveniently using the BruPay app, then users will less likely cash out of transfer money from their e-wallet