M2U 2.0 Coming Soon

I had been using Maybank2u.com since I first got my Maybank account back in 2002. At that time, no other banks had a good internet banking system, so Maybank2u was the only way to go for my online transactions and online shopping. Since then, the site has remained pretty much the same, I wouldn’t say it was great, though I was really used to it, knowing exactly where is what after too many years of familiarity. Nonetheless, I was really pleased to hear that Maybank’s new division, Virtual Banking has taken huge leaps to revamp their site and change their entire focus. It’s about time!

So, I was at the Exclusive Preview held a couple of days ago, 8 Sept at Delicious @ The Marc, where loyal Maybank2u customers and partners attended to get a preview of what’s in store for the rest of Malaysia come Oct when it’s fully launched.

Ahmad Shareza, being the head of the Virtual Banking gave us the low down on what was, what is and what’s to come basically. Amongst all the impressive bits and statistics, usability testing and the methods used to come out with the M2U 2.0, I think I was really wanting to just see what the new site looks like.

As you can see, the standard colours remain the same, compared to the current one, the navigation has been made clearer and less cluttered.

However, what I couldn’t find was Online Prepaid. There’s only two things I do most on Maybank2u, that is uploading my prepaid phoneline through Online Prepaid, which is one click away, and transferring funds using GIRO to my favourite accounts in other banks for payments of credit cards. It took a good few minutes before I found it under Buy Online feature. I would have thought it was under Accounts and Banking as it used to be categorised together with Online Banking, Online Cards, etc.

To do a fund transfer is pretty fast and easy. I can use the Quicklinks scroll down to access Transfers immediately from the main page which brings me to a page containing all kinds of transfers, from favourite 3rd party transfers to FTT.

So, I chose favourite Interbank GIRO transfer as I have already maintained my CIMB Savings account here for my monthly transfers to pay for my free for life credit card there. 🙂 I love CIMB credit cards, but I hate the queue at the ATM Machines and even the internet banking. Therefore, it is worth it to pay RM2 for each transaction monthly just to save the hassle.

Once that is clicked, the page goes to a notice that tells users how much is transferable and the usual banking times and details.

I just close the window to move on. In the next screen, I have to choose the account that I want to transfer my funds to. Here, I only have one, I might add another one later.

After choosing the right account, I click continue.

At the next screen, I just need to fill in the description, amount to transfer and a reference number. Here at this screen, I noticed that the top grey box area is not the right size to cover the words funds availability. Something wrong with the table size?

After keying in everything, a confirmation screen appears for me to recheck everything. This is a safety feature, in case users transfer to a wrong account. That would be too bad. But I normally double check to make sure that my ID, account number, amount and everything is in order before clicking confirm.

Upon confirmation, the next screen will tell users whether the transfer is accepted or rejected. Sometimes it might be rejected for technical reasons or when there’s not enough funds. In my case, it’s approved and it might take a couple of days for it to be seen in my CIMB account. For safety, M2U 2.0 allows users to print a receipt.

The receipt is an important reference for in case anything that happens, for eg. if you find that the funds never got transferred or something like that. It has yet to ever happen to me, and I totally trust online banking now compared to years ago when there were so much doubts.

It doesn’t take very long to get used to the new M2U 2.0, sitting in Delicious, amidst a cosy environment and free flow of juice, not to mention and sumptuous Buka Puasa buffet that followed.

Overall, I was most impressed that a big bank like Maybank has finally acknowledged users over banking, starting with their internet banking being more user-focused now than business-focused. After all, isn’t business created where there are users? Hopefully, other major banks across Malaysia will follow suit and pay more attention to the Virtual Banking arena too, this being the internet age. The internet savvy youngsters are less and less interested in stepping into a bank, queuing up and all that. Yet, they are also very particular about the usability of the banking website. I guess Maybank has done a good job in this area.