KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 — Over 70 per cent of Malaysians are supportive for the country to become a cashless society and 62 per cent believe it can be achieved within the next five years, according to Visa Consumer Payments Study.
The top three benefits consumers believe a cashless society offers include tracking financial records easily, removing the hassle of having to queue at banks, and enabling the country to become more efficient.
The study also showed that 69 per cent of Malaysian respondents are planning to use cashless payment methods more often, and move away from cash, Visa said in a statement today.
This trend is more apparent among the affluent segment, where 77 per cent indicated interest to do so, of which the top reasons for the potential increase in digital payments usage are due to convenience and wider acceptance of digital payments in the country, it said.
Country Manager for Malaysia Ng Kong Boon said it is heartening to see the increase in digital payment usage by Malaysians in the country, especially contactless payments.
“This is aligned with our data, where close to half of all Visa face-to-face payments are contactless payments.
“In addition, Malaysia is one of the fastest-growing countries in the Asia Pacific in terms of contactless penetration and we are confident this growth will continue as we expand into new merchant category segments,” he said.
On top of that, nearly two in five respondents stated that they are carrying less cash compared to two years ago, and 69 per cent of respondents cited this was due to more merchants adopting cashless payments, while 65 per cent said it was due to safety concerns when carrying cash.
The contactless card payments are also gaining momentum in the country.
Based on the study, 65 per cent of Malaysian respondents have used contactless payments, and 85 per cent of them make contactless payments at least once a week.
The study also revealed that 82 per cent of respondents have also been using contactless payments more frequently compared to two years ago as they believed this payment method enables them to not carry cash around and is a faster payment mode compared to other solutions.
“Despite the growth in digital payments usage by Malaysians, there are still tremendous opportunities in Malaysia for cash displacement.
“We are seeing a proliferation of various payment solutions being introduced to Malaysia, which may accelerate the use of digital payments,” Ng said.
“However, it may also cause the payment industry to be more fragmented so it is crucial for us to work closely with the banks, merchants and financial technology community to ensure the solutions we’re creating are interoperable so it can drive greater adoption among Malaysians,” Ng added.
— Bernama
