20th August 2010
Malaysian First Multi-Currency ATM
Raphaels Bank, ICE and CIMB Bank Berhad join forces in Malaysia's first Multi-Currency ATM service
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Raphaels Bank, the leading independent bank has joined forces with CIMB Bank Berhad, one of the largest banks in Malaysia and International Currency Exchange, a leading UK based global provider of foreign exchange and JV partner with CIMB, for the launch of the country's first ATMs providing access to multiple currencies for Malaysians travelling overseas.
The new service is the culmination of a complex project involving Raphaels Bank, TNS, Raphaels Bank's supplier of switching services in UK, ICE, CIMB and ACI, CIMB's switch provider in Malaysia.
The first multi-currency ATMs operated by the ICE / CIMB JV launched in Kuala Lumpar on 25th August 2010 providing access to 8 different currencies. 26 further multi-currency ATMs are due to roll out in the coming months at key locations and travel gateways across Malaysia. The service will enable Malaysian travellers to withdraw foreign currencies using their MEPS cards, the local Malaysian debit card scheme.
The ATMs stand alone from the rest of CIMBs ATM network. This means transactions will flow directly from the ATMs to Raphaels Bank's switch in the UK. Once the data has been processed, Raphaels Bank will pass the transaction back to CIMB's ACI host for transmission into MEPS.
Mike Smith, Director at Raphaels Bank said "This has been a very exciting, if complex, development for Raphaels Bank. It required a number of parties to work together to deliver the inter-operability between the systems to make this work. The fact that we have been able to deliver such a system shows the flexibility of our switch and builds on the expertise that we have developed with TNS over the past three years. We hope to expand our relationship with CIMB and extend this concept to other countries."
Victor Jee, Head of Retail Forex at the CIMB/ICE JV commented "CIMB is delighted to be offering the first currency dispensing ATMs in Malaysia, another first for our ever-expanding range of innovative products and services. Getting all the parties to deliver this complex project has been a challenging but ultimately worthwhile and successful operation and we look forward to rolling out further innovations in this and other areas."