KUALA LUMPUR: Malayan Banking (Maybank) announced yesterday that it has integrated its online Sama-Sama Lokal marketplace into its MAE app to further assist small and medium-sized F&B Enterprises (F&B SME) such as local hawkers and home-based businesses to market their food offerings to their retail customers – the first such feature within a banking app in Malaysia.
This addition to the MAE app is part of the bank’s continued drive to deliver practical digital solutions to both its individual and SME customers as well as provide businesses with complementary support and solutions beyond traditional banking services.
Sama-Sama Lokal, Maybank’s zero commission online marketplace, was developed during the first movement control order in April 2020 to assist neighbourhood businesses which were suffering from a decline in sales owing to reduced footfall.
Today, the platform has close to 14,000 merchants, which benefit from being connected to the bank’s 12 million customer base. At the same time, the bank’s retail customers get to enjoy the ease and convenience of ordering food through a bank-backed secure platform.
“From the start, our purpose of setting up Sama-Sama Lokal was to help our neighbourhood businesses recover and grow. While the economy has reopened, our intent has not changed, and that is why we will continue to ensure Sama-Sama Lokal remains a zero commission platform, with no set up, transaction or administration fees. By allowing the businesses to keep 100% of their profits, we hope to help them maximise their earnings and recover rapidly from the pandemic,” said Maybank’s group CEO of community financial services, Datuk John Chong.