A couple of months ago, we highlighted the need for a single QR code that can work with all the e-wallets. Currently, in Malaysia, you will find a number of QR codes from different e-wallets on display. Be it the big e-wallet players to the smaller ones, and there’ll always be about 3 to 5 different QR codes for consumers to make payments.
For some consumers, this has become a hassle as you are often not sure which e-wallets are accepted. Bigger businesses will often display promotions and acceptable e-wallets, but for smaller businesses like restaurants and such, consumers will not know which e-wallet is accepted until they are there. Meaning, if they don’t plan to use cash or credit cards for their transactions, they can only shop and dine that accept the e-wallets they use.
Consumers can, of course, always have a couple of e-wallets in their mobile with cash as an option but how many consumers will actually do that. But apart from a few e-wallet providers like Boost, the rest of the e-wallets do not allow you to transfer your cashback to your bank account. So if you have RM3 left in your e-wallet, you either find a merchant that accepts your e-wallet and has products worth that price or you will just have to top up your e-wallet to spend more.
Following the government’s e-Tunai initiative, Malaysia has now seen more adoption in e-wallet usage. But as mentioned earlier, not everyone is able to make the most out of it as they are not sure which merchants accept which e-wallets. Over two million Malaysians have since applied for the cash handout by the government as part of their plan to promote e-wallets, with an allocation of funds set for up to 15 million Malaysians.
Addressing the problem with merchants and dealing with the issues of multiple QR codes, DuitNow was launched. DuitNow is reported as Malaysia’s national QR code standard that aims to unify all cashless payments of e-wallet providers and banks as well. DuitNow QR is part of the Interoperable Credit Transfer Framework under Bank Negara, which mandates that Paynet (the country’s shared payment infrastructure provider) implement an interoperable and common QR standard for Malaysia.
Cyberjaya is expected to be the first city to adopt the national QR code as currently there are over 51% merchants in Cyberjaya that are accepting cashless payments. PayNet is not just simplifying QR payments; they are also enabling merchants to use their NFC enabled smartphones for debit card payments. Using its real-time Retail Payments Platform, merchants can soon collect payments directly from customers.
So it seems PayNet is simplifying payment collection for merchants and DuitNow is enabling consumers to have more choices with their e-wallets. The question now is, what do banks, and e-wallet service providers think about this?
According to reports, several local banks are looking to implement this payment option while GrabPay has already announced its support for DuitNow. Other e-wallet providers are also supported and are expected to make announcements on this soon.
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