KUALA LUMPUR, 29 OCTOBER 2009 – Malaysian payments provider MOL AccessPortal is to provide a prepaid platform to social networking site Friendster’s 115 million members around the world.
The MSC (Multimedia Supercorridor) Malaysia status company, MOL, will power the social network site’s stored value system, called Friendster Wallet, according to MOL president and chief executive officer, Ganesh Kumar Bangah.
"Through this exclusive strategic partnership, we’re enabling many users to pay for goods
and services online for the first time, and in doing so, creating a valuable transactional
ecosystem on Friendster,” said Bangah, during the signing ceremony in Kuala Lumpur.
“Friendster Wallet is a critical step towards facilitating greater monetisation of Friendster’s massive, global user base,” he said. “It will further enable Friendster to launch incremental revenue streams surrounding virtual goods, gifts, and games, all of which are proven business and revenue models in Asia, where Friendster is a leading website. The service will initially launch in Malaysia, and will be rolled out within weeks throughout Southeast Asia and globally.”
MOL is a MSC Malaysia status company that operates and develops payment systems. MOL handles more than 60,000,000 payment transactions a year with an annual payment volume of more than US$200million. It leverages on a network of more than 500,000 physical and virtual payment channels across more than 75 countries and linked to 65 banks in 15 countries.
Eliminating ‘payment friction’
Bangah said the Friendster Wallet would support a variety of payment methods to prepay and store credit in each user’s Friendster Wallet.
“This credit will be stored as currency called ‘Friendster Coins’ and can be spent throughout Friendster’s site for goods and services,” he said. “The wallet will also include a non-monetary, marketing and incentive-based currency called “Friendster Chips” — funding incentive based promotions, educating users on how the Friendster Wallet works (and how to give gifts to their friends), as a marketing tool to use in conjunction with special offers, and as a loyalty programme to encourage continued prepayment and spending on Friendster.”
“We’re excited to work with MOL, as they’re a payments platform leader throughout our major markets in Asia,” said Friendster chief executive officer, Richard Kimber. “Just like PayPal eliminated ‘payment friction’ in the globally successful eBay marketplace for buyers and sellers, MOL will help Friendster deliver many new and important revenue streams by seamlessly powering a wealth of premium entertainment and content features.”
