Malaysia is fast becoming a cashless and contactless society, according to the Malaysia Fintech Report 2023.
The report, produced by Fintech News Network in partnership with Tranglo, said e-payment transactions increased by 31.5% from 7.2 billion in 2021 to 9.5 billion in 2022.
“Each Malaysian could have made 291 e-payment transactions in 2022 on average, indicating cashless payment methods were gaining traction over cash-based ones.”
Traditional transactions, like cash and cheques, continue to slow down.
The country recorded 798.5 million cash withdrawals from ATMs in 2022, below pre-pandemic levels. Cheque usage declined to 46.1 million in 2022 from 48.3 million the previous year.
Meanwhile, 68.9% of credit and debit card-based transactions were contactless in 2022, compared to 64.6% in the previous year.
The report said various industry-led initiatives promoting the adoption of QR code payments as a cost-effective and convenient payment method have led to more merchants, particularly among SMEs, accepting DuitNow QR.
As a result, e-wallet transactions recorded 5.5% growth from 1.1 billion in 2021 to 1.7 billion in 2022, and DuitNow QR code acceptance points also rose from 1.1 million in 2021 to 1.6 million in 2022.
In the cross-border payment industry, numerous collaborations among ASEAN countries are accelerating broader digital adoption in the region and respective host countries, including Malaysia, enabling real-time peer-to-peer and other types of payments.
