Standard Chartered Bank, India’s largest international bank, has allied with PayMate, the leading mobile commerce company, for mobile commerce solutions. This alliance will enable Standard Chartered customers to experience “easy-convenient-secure” mode of making payments via mobile phones through a simple SMS. The easy-to-use service will provide the convenience of purchasing flight/movie tickets, hiring cars and more. 

Commenting on the new launch, Mr. Sai Narain CDK, General Manager – Consumer Transaction Banking & Strategic Initiatives, Standard Chartered Bank said “Mobile technology has reached its peak and offers a host of features and convenience to the users. PayMate has been in the forefront of this technology and our association with them will enable our customers to enjoy the convenience of technology. All our customers are cell phone users and a Pay-Buy-SMS service will be an immediate benefit to them. We, at Standard Chartered attempt to make a difference by introducing unique facilities and features for our customers, our association with PayMate is another step in that direction.”

Mr. Ajay Adiseshann, MD and Founder, PayMate said “Bringing PayMate’s convenience of paying through the mobile phone to Standard Chartered Bank's customers represents a very exciting opportunity to us. In addition to what we already have to offer, we will continue to innovate to attract Standard Chartered Bank's customers to avail and use our services.”

Here’s how PayMate works:

§  Once the customer chooses to pay via PayMate at the merchant, he/ she shares the registered mobile number with the merchant and instantly receives an SMS from PayMate asking for a payment authorization with the 4-digit PIN

§  Customer replies to the SMS with the PIN and a dynamic ‘alpha-code’ which is authenticated by PayMate and the customers bank account debited instantly

§   A confirmation of the transaction status is sent to both the customer (via SMS) and the merchant (through the PayMate interface) within a few seconds.

To kick off the association, the Standard Chartered Bank customers who have registered for mobile banking and hence for PayMate services, will be eligible for a promotion run by Standard Chartered Bank and PayMate. These would include special offers sent to the customers via sms and they can simple reply with the Pin to purchase the product. Standard Chartered and PayMate also aim to have ongoing promotions and incentive offers to get customers accustomed to this new mobile payment service.