XL Axiata seeks bank for e-money partnership

JAKARTA. Telecommunications company XL Axiata is seeking a partnership with a bank to develop its e-money XL Tunai, which is estimated to have the potential to serve its 25 million customers.

Currently the e-money can be used for micro transactions such as billing payments, credit top ups, and e-commerce transactions, said XL Axiata president director Dian Siswarini.

“Operator-owned e-money is lacking a feature to cash in virtual credit, as the government is yet to give licenses to the operators to manage cash transactions,” she told thejakartapost.com on the sidelines of The Jakarta Post’s seminar “Accelerating Infrastructure Development” in Jakarta on Monday.

E-money has been booming in Indonesia since 2007 with the launch of BCA’s Flazz and Telkomsel’s TCASH. Since then, banks and operators have been in a race to develop their own e-money including XL Axiata with XL Tunai, launched in 2012.

“In terms of technology, operators are better but banks have more access. Instead of going into competition, they should cooperate. Banks can use operators’ technology and operators can use the access provided by banks,” Dian said.(Anton Hermansyah)