Since going live at the end of February 2013, the service has attracted more than 60,000 registered users towards its end of 2013 target of 200,000.

BBM Money gives BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) customers in Indonesia the ability to instantly create and access a Mobile Money account from their BlackBerry smartphone and make real-time payments to their BBM contacts who are also signed up to the service, at any time from wherever they are. The simple and secure service also enables users to buy mobile airtime credit and transfer money to bank accounts. Uniquely the service is integrated with BBM itself, allowing the user to be in a chat, make a peer-to-peer payment and return to the same conversation. BBM Money can be used by consumers with access to the service regardless of whether they have a PermataBank bank account.

PermataBank Retail Banking Director Lauren Sulistiawati commented: "We are delighted with the level of customer adoption that we have experienced so far. The popularity of the service is another indication that mobile plays a key role in the future of the banking and payments industry across Indonesia. We have also been particularly excited by the way in which BBM Money has quickly opened up a new, direct route to new-to-bank customers. The ability to engage with new customers and significantly lower the cost of customer acquisition is a real advantage for any financial institution."

Calvin Lim, Director of AGIT Monitise, commented: "We are encouraged by the adoption trend and customer usage to date. The service can only become more popular as more functionalities are added in the near future."

Indonesia has a mobile penetration of 111%*. BlackBerry is the number one selling mobile smartphone, constituting more than half of all smartphones sold in market. Darren Sugden, CEO of Monitise Asia Pacific, said, "It is great to see such a positive early response to BBM Money. As the first comprehensive Mobile Money service in the world to be integrated with any messaging platform, pioneering the approach of turning a social network into a payments network, BBM Money brings second-to-none convenience to Indonesian consumers and businesses. The success of the service in a major world economy which is ideally suited to this type of innovation is a great example of how the financial industry can capitalise on the fast-growing mobile, payments and banking space to meet the day-to-day needs of the consumer."

Alastair Lukies, Chief Executive of Monitise Group, said: "Monitise stands by its belief that the evolution of Mobile Money has the power to transform lives. This is increasingly becoming a reality with the launch of mass-market services like BBM Money. By working closely with our trusted partners we have created a service that meets the exact needs of consumers in this market whilst also supporting key strategic business objectives of the bank. We look forward to continuing to help financial institutions move beyond mobile banking to enable their customers to also pay and buy via their phone."