PETALING JAYA: More than seven in 10 Malaysians are supportive for the country to become a cashless society and 62% believe it can be achieved within the next five years, according to the latest findings from Visa’s Consumer Payments Study.
The study showed that 69% of Malaysian respondents are planning to use cashless payment methods more often, and move away from cash. This trend is more apparent amongst the affluent segment, where 77% indicated interest to do so.
The top reasons for the potential increase in digital payments usage are due to convenience and wider acceptance of digital payments in the country.
On top of that, nearly two in five respondents stated that they are carrying less cash compared to two years ago. 69% of respondents cited this was due to more merchants adopting cashless payments, and 65% indicated it was due to safety concerns when carrying cash.
Visa country manager for Malaysia Ng Kong Boon said Malaysia is one of the fastest growing countries in Asia Pacific in terms of contactless penetration.
“It is heartening to see the increase in digital payments 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,” he said in a statement.
Based on the study, 65% of Malaysian respondents have used contactless payments, and 85% of them make contactless payments at least once a week.
82% of respondents have also been using contactless payments more frequently compared to two years ago.
“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.
“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 FinTech community to ensure the solutions we’re creating are interoperable so it can drive greater adoption amongst Malaysians,” Ng added.
