Malaysia-based Shariah-compliant payment firm PayHalal announced that it has partnered Singapore-based buy now pay later (BNPL) platform Atome, to enable seamless Murabaha buy now pay later (iBNPL) acceptance across PayHalal’s merchant touchpoints first in Malaysia, before rolling out to Indonesia in the coming months.

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift for Malaysian shoppers to adopt digital payment options. By partnering Atome to introduce iBNPL across PayHalal’s merchant touchpoints, shoppers will now have access to a flexible, convenient, and secure payment option that allows them to split their purchases into three zero-interest deferred payments, with no annual or servicing fees, PayHalal said in a statement on Friday.

This further enhances the shopping and payment experience of shoppers and supports Muslim retailers and businesses with increased sales amid the pandemic.

“The pandemic-driven shift towards online shopping has created an urgent need for Muslim retailers and businesses to improve and enhance the e-commerce user experience. This partnership with Atome will broaden the payment experience across thousands of point-of-sale checkouts, with the right assortment of payment options, throughout PayHalal’s merchant network,” PayHalal acting Chief Executive Officer Muhammad Sulwan Mohamed Subhan said.

The announcement came as BNPL has been gaining traction across many countries where FinTech startups, retailers such as Walmart, Apple, and Shopee, payment giants including Visa and Mastercard started plans to offer pay later options to their customers.

“We are excited to partner PayHalal to expand seamless Murabaha buy now pay later acceptance first in Malaysia before rolling out in Indonesia in the coming months. This partnership will enable Muslim retailers and businesses to provide a seamless and superior checkout experience for their consumers as we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Atome CEO David Chen.

Launched in 2018, PayHalal is the world’s first Shariah-compliant (Islamic) payment gateway. PayHalal is the trade name of Souqa Fintech, the world’s first Syariah-compliant merchant acquirer and Islamic financial technology provider which aims to help Muslim entrepreneurs and customers comply with the Shariah law in trade, without any apprehension (was-was).

Singapore-based Atome is a buy now pay later platform in Asia. It currently partners with over 5,000 online and offline retailers in nine markets including Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, and mainland China.

Atome is part of the Series-D funded Advance Intelligence Group. Founded in 2016, the group is headquartered in Singapore and has a presence across South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Greater China.

Featured image credit: PayHalal

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