More than 68 million real-time payment transactions were processed in Malaysia in 2020, a surge of 864 percent from 7 million transactions in 2019, according to the latest global report by ACI Worldwide (ACI), a leading provider of real-time electronic payments and banking solutions.
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The report analyzes real-time, account-to-account payment volumes and forecasts across 48 markets worldwide. The company expects the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of real-time payments in Malaysia to be 83.91% from 2020 to 2025.
Although Malaysia’s real-time payment network is less than two years old, it already has a strong infrastructure, supported by banks and merchants, according to the report.
DuitNow was launched in 2018 by Malaysia’s national payment network and central infrastructure provider, PayNet Malaysia, in partnership with ACI Worldwide, allowing users to instantly transfer money using their mobile phone number or ID number.
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According to the report, mobile wallet transactions in Malaysia increased by 171% in 2020. This is largely due to changes in consumer payment preferences and lifestyle during the epidemic. In 2020, the Malaysian government issued policies to encourage local residents to use electronic wallet for payment, and companies also provided large discounts and subsidies, which stimulated the enthusiasm of many residents to try.
Malaysia has some of the highest consumer spending power in Southeast Asia, with an e-commerce market of $4.3 billion, even though it has only 26 million Internet users. Touch N ‘Go eWallet, Boost and Grab Pay are the three most widely used smartphone e-wallets for mobile payments in Malaysia.
Notably, the report found that countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Malaysia, which traditionally relied on cash for payments, are seeing a sharp increase in the use of electronic wallets.
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The report also says that the total number of real-time transactions in Malaysia will rise to 1.45 billion by 2025. Malaysia’s real-time share of electronic transactions will be 1.9% in 2020, up from 0.2% in 2019. By 2025, this share is expected to reach 16.5 percent.
In addition, the value of real-time transactions in Malaysia increased by 908 percent to 5.55 billion U.S. dollars from 550 million U.S. dollars in 2019. The report notes that the CAGR is expected to be 96.04 percent by 2025.
Malaysia is one of the fastest growing countries in terms of real-time payments. The country number one is Croatia, which is expected to grow at 374.4 percent between 2020 and 2025, followed by Colombia (112.7 percent), Malaysia (83.9 percent), Peru (74.4 percent) and Finland (71.4 percent).
India was the country with the most real-time transactions in 2020, with 25.5 billion transactions; It is followed by China (15.7 billion) and South Korea (6 billion). Thailand ranked fourth with 5.2 billion transactions.
The total number of real-time transactions in 2020 was 70.3 billion, up 41 percent from 50 billion in 2019.