Public Bank Berhad new smartphone mobile app Android and IOS with DuitNow QR Pay

Public Bank just released their new mobile app on 11/9 called PB engage on Appstore and Playstore. It's a totally revamped app and will work side by side with the existing mobile app. At the moment the links to the app are not widely publicized yet.

Based on the info obtained from App store. The new features listed on this app are

New user interface and screen design
DuitNow QR
Future-Date transaction
Authenticate your transaction via SecureSign Token
Share your transaction receipt
Promotion updates

The main feature is the DuitNow QR pay which will be the industry standard in Malaysia for QR code. All banks will have to switch to using DuitNow QR rather than each bank having their own OR codes. At the moment there is only 1 DuitNow QR merchant which is Pai Kingdom, a cafe at the offices of Paynet in Bangsar South. Maybank OR on the other hand, has penetrated many merchants from small scale hardware shops to big corporate enterprises. To gain traction, it is very likely Paynet, the people behind DuitNow QR will do lots of campaigns to the public just like FPX payment as this is a shared service between banks so the marketing is best done by Paynet themselves.

The second interesting feature is the SecureSign Token usage, this used to be only available on the Public Bank ebanking website but has now been extended to the mobile app. This is a 2 factor authentication feature where users can use a hardware token generate a random code for 2nd level security for conducting banking activities.

Sharing of transaction receipt is also another important feature as least to consumers as nowadays a lot of transactions are done electronically so electronic receipts as proof of payment is highly welcomed.

Note : Paynet is a subsidiary of Bank Negara Malaysia.

It's about time Public Bank did this new app as the current mobile app is lagging behind Maybank's mobile app in terms of features and look.