AirAsia Group to launch new fintech platform in three months

AirAsia Group Bhd said that it is waiting for the approval from Bank Negara Malaysia for its new fintech platform, Bernama reported.

According to AirAsia Group Chief Executive Officer, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, the fintech programme is expected to be launched in three months' time. He also said that ‘The Big’, the fintech programme, will allow banking and financial services to process inflight purchases for passengers on AirAsia flights.

“This would ease the purchasing process in the future, especially when AirAsia aims to achieve a record of 100 million customers flying with us by 2021,” Fernandes, stated in a press conference.

Earlier this year in the month of January, AirAsia Bhd entered into the fintech pool with the incorporation of a Singaporean Big Pay Pte Ltd. This marks the group’s first step into fintech. AirAsia previously introduced its BIG Prepaid MasterCard in partnership with MasterCard, which acts as a multi-currency wallet, and is already in use as a loyalty card by AirAsia's frequent flyers.

Fernandes also announced other plans including increasing the fleet size from current 10 aircraft to 20 by end-2018 in India. Also, AirAsia's newly set-up Japanese subsidiary is expected to start operations in the second half of this year.