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1987
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Monday, December 5, 2011
Milestones
About MBf Cards
About MBf Cards | ||
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In 1987, MBF Cards (M’sia) Sdn. Bhd., a subsidiary of MBf Holdings Berhad (listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad), began issuing MasterCard credit cards to affording and eclectic Malaysians.
Today, this home-grown credit and charge card company is a leader in the industry. It has an authorized share capital of RM10 million and paid-up capital of RM5,265,000, with a total of approximately 500,000 customer base, of which an approximate 295,000 cards in circulation (CIC), 889 staff, an extensive merchant network of 36,000 merchants and a nationwide network of 28 branches, inclusive of Sabah and Sarawak.
Over the years, MBF Cards has proudly acquired the reputation of being a company of “firsts”. It was the first in the world to offer the Visa Wave card – an intelligent smart card equipped with the EMV chip – to CardMembers. It’s so convenient it can be used as a swipe, wave, slot and even ATM card, for withdrawals at any Visa Plus ATM.
MBF Cards is also the first mono-line and non-bank in the entire ASEAN region to be awarded a Visa license. It is also the only credit card in Malaysia to offer rewards through Malaysia’s biggest reward program - BonusLink - a multi-party rewards program that allows members to earn points when they shop and enjoy the largest selection of gifts for redemption.
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These product innovations have led to a host of local and internal accolades. They include two Gold Awards for Best Overall Marketing Programme and Best LadyCard Programme at the 2005 MasterCard Asia Pacific Marketing Awards. It was the only Malaysian brand to have achieved this recognition that year. MBF Cards also received the D’ucoty Award in the product innovation in banking category for the MBF MasterCard® 2006 FIFA World Cup™ OneSMART™ PayPass Card campaign and the Best Cardholder Promotion Award at the MasterCard® Hall of Fame Award in 2009.
Overall, the brand’s initiatives and acclaim reflect its corporate philosophy of ‘Enriching CardMember’s Lives Through Practical Innovations’. This philosophy is echoed throughout MBF Cards’ 24-year history and is exemplified in the brand’s latest online retail initiative featuring ‘cool products at hot prices’, details can be found at ww.mbfxtremedeals.com.
MBF Cards is governed under Payment Systems Act 2003 and is supervised by Payment System Policy Department, a unit of Bank Negara Malaysia. | |
MBF Cards (Msia) Sdn.Bhd's company overview
MBF
Cards (Msia) Sdn.Bhd operates as a credit and charge card company in Malaysia
and South East Asia. It issues MasterCard credit cards and Visa cards, as well
as EMV chip card, a functional chip embedded with card member’s personal
information. The company also offers supplementary cards, Xuàn cards, gold
cards, platinum cards, and LadyCards. In addition, it provides online, mobile,
and secure services to pay bills, shop, and manage card accounts. MBF Cards
(Msia) Sdn.Bhd has a strategic partnership with JCB
International Co Ltd. MBF Cards (Msia) Sdn.Bhd was formerly known as MBf
Card Services Sdn. Bhd. The company was founded in 1987 and is based in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia. It has branches in Alor Setar, Sg.Petani, and Langkawi,
Malaysia. MBF Cards (Msia) Sdn.Bhd operates as a subsidiary of MBF Holdings
Bhd.
Link: http://www.mbfcards.com/
Thursday, December 1, 2011
MBf Cards's IT department, Kuala Lumpur HQ
MIS in the industry:
An interview with MBf Cards’s head of information technology
MBf Cards is the borrow liner company which issue and acquire credit cards. It has been in this business for more than 23 years.
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Alvin Chua on MIS: What are the types of Management Information System (MIS) used in MBf Cards, and in which areas has this system been used in the services provided by MBf Cards?
NM Jayabalan: For management information system, we are currently using our Multi Cards Management System (MCMS) which combining multiple card uses onto a single piece of plastic. This unique approach or system enables simplicity for the cardholders, a single program to manage for administration, and most important, collects data into a single database using one reporting tool. As well as the business intelligence tool called Cognos which is widely use in the market. The business intelligence is use to analyse report as well as produce report for management for decision making. It's also use by other department for their analysis cards we are using and the productivity of the cards as well as the productivity of the customers using our cards.
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Alvin Chua on MIS: Can you share with us the challenges you face in implementing the system?
NM Jayabalan: Main challenges we are facing is staff retention especially on the application side. In terms of staff internal application is the higher side.
Business requirement is a challenge because requirement by business people are always challenging. And delivering the services on time is also a challenge.
For example, they need to have a launch of campaign which used to be launch on 1 December. Now, the challenge is to deliver within the time frame. That is always a challenge.
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Alvin Chua on MIS: Have you seen any expected benefits yet? (The expected benefit based on the application, system, feedbacks..)
NM Jayabalan: In terms of the system we are using, we are seeing number of merchant is increasing because of the system is quite stable. The customer usage of cards are also increasing. This is good benefit because the more customer use our credit cards and more merchants need to MBF Cards service.
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Alvin Chua on MIS: What are the key areas of improvement required in the current MIS system?
NM Jayabalan: The system needs to be more parameterized and be more flexible. For example like launching a campaign takes one month to two month. If the system can be more flexible, we should be able to launch it within a month which refer to the time frame to the launching.
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Alvin Chua on MIS: What are the latest MIS technologies implemented in order to improve the quality of the business process?
NM Jayabalan: The area need improvement is the business intelligence tools which is using to generate reporting as well as analysing our customer base and merchant base.
The technology used such as software product acquire from Cognos which is Sunway technology use that to improve our analysis and decision making.
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Alvin Chua on MIS: Will MBf implement cloud technology?
NM Jayabalan: Cloud technology is still something new even though it has a lot of hyperbolic. We are not in the process of implementing it. We had evaluated but it not really apply to MBf Cards. The current data center infrastructures are located at Kuala Lumpur’s head quarter.
While cloud computing could help to distributed processing. It can help to save cost. So MBf Cards not plan to implementing it yet. Not in the pilot plan at all, maybe in the future.
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Last Words
Information technology always involving market and we need to keep in touch with the market. As we know the world is getting smaller. People use mobile can be done in finger tips. They do not need to go to the bank or utility bill company to pay their bill. Whereby, they can pay through online, through their mobile phone, mobile banking, and online banking. These are the technology MBf Cards keep on implementing as well as improving to remain competitive.
As we know all youngsters own mobile phone. Nowadays, people thrust the system and they thrust online banking, mobile banking. These are the things we need to capture the younger generation. These are technologies which MBf Cards need to use to keep in line with the needs of younger generation. MBf Cards send them the e-statement (monthly) instead of using physical copy. E-statement which can keep it in soft copy and print it whenever. This is also as go green purpose.
Unlike the one and two generation earlier, they want to see the physical thing, not thrust the internet and only want to see the bank book. MBf Cards 60% of Chinese customer base, most of them have being with MBf Cards for more than 10-15 years. So they are customers who like to see the physical statement.
Part 1
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