MyPay set to make life easier for Malaysians come January 2019

• Product of Dapat Vista which has provided government SMS services for past decade
• Free to use platform, monetisation from RM0.50 – RM1 transaction fee on payments

WITH a name like MyPay, one may think this is yet another e-wallet to hit the market. On the contrary, MyPay is an online Malaysian government services platform consolidating information from various agencies for the ease of citizens. The product is set to launch in January 2019.

The co-founder and chief executive officer of MyPay, Nick Liew says, “We are looking at providing government services to each and every citizen very easily on one platform. Our range of services include the checking of driver license validity, PTPTN student loan balance, assessment and quit rent as well as summons.”

MyPay is a product by Dapat Vista (M) Sdn Bhd (Dapat), a company involved in government SMS services for the past 10 years. This includes police traffic summons checking and the MySMS 15888 short code for all government agencies. From running the government short code service, the company has previously established relationships across ministries.

“Without the existing data connections and company track record, we would not have been able to create this product in the past eight months to one year. In order to get all these different government agencies to work with us, it would have been difficult if we were just a startup,” Liew admits.

The name MyPay actually stems from the company’s MyPay Payment Gateway launched in 2012 which enables Malaysians to pay for public services via bank card, internet banking or cash. “This new product is an evolution of that payment gateway. We combine what we have in payments with information.”

Among the agencies on board at the moment are the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), Election Commission of Malaysia (SPR), Road Transport Department Malaysia (JPJ) and National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) among others.

The market for e-government services

As far as competition with MyEG Services Bhd, another online government services provider, Liew says, “We are quite confident of competing based on the customer experience we offer. We are more user friendly and offer more services.”

However, he also clarified that MyPay will not compete in certain areas such as renewal of foreign worker licenses.

The presence of MyEG in the market has set MyPay on the right path terms of digital awareness. MyEG was given a concession in 2000 to launch its e-government service platform and no competition was allowed until 2015. “We are grateful that they have paved the way over the past 18 years. They did the hard work of educating the public about transacting online.”

About MyPay, Liew shares, “Our focus is on more citizen-centric information and moving forward, we hope to enable public school university students to check exam results since this is something already offered through MySMS.”

MyPay aspires to become an all-encompassing platform for the Malaysian citizen. “We want to follow through with Malaysians from their schooling days, to their driver’s license application and student loans, and even checking of taxes when they purchase a house.”

The platform focuses on five large areas of services and hope to grow each category with time:

1. Information such as license expiry and election location
2. Student loan checking and payment
3. Local council and police summons
4. Assessment and quit rent
5. Insolvency

“These main areas all have a few agencies under them and to work with these agencies, will take some time. We plan on bringing on a few agencies for each category over the next one to two years, by taking on the major ones first before working our way down,” Liew explains, adding that there are 149 local councils and about 64 student loan organisations in the country.

In terms of monetisation plans, MyPay’s business plan is to earn revenue through payment transactions. “The MyPay platform and information services is free to use but whenever a user pays for loans, taxes or summons, we charge a RM0.50 to RM1 per transaction fee.”

How MyPay works

By signing up on the platform with their identification card (IC) number, mobile number, email address and password, Malaysians can access government services on the platform.

The company opted to create the MyPay online platform instead of a mobile app to make it accessible to everyone, even in areas of Malaysia where smartphone penetration and good internet connection is more scarce. 

The co-founder and chief technology officer, Joshua Smith says, “Anyone with a Malaysian IC is able to use the platform by just signing up.”

He believes that the user experience is also more straightforward on this mobile-friendly online platform. “Users don’t need to search for the app, download it and have it take up space in their phones.”

The MyPay homepage collates information from various government agencies. Users will see a blurb indicating the number of notifications available from each agency. By clicking on the agency icon, users can view the notifications and proceed to make payment.

While the full version of MyPay goes live at the end of January 2019, those interested for now can test out the beta version by signing up here using the early access code MYPAYPREVIEW.