Published on: Thursday, March 21, 2013 |
Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia is still far from achieving the targets set out in the Financial Sector Blueprint 2011-2020 for the transaction of e-payments, said Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) in its 2012 Financial Stability and Payment Systems Report released Wednesday.
This is despite a total of 925 million e-payment transactions worth RM4.7 billion being recorded in 2012, representing a growth of 14.7 per cent and 22.6 per cent by volume and value respectively.
"With the government's efforts to improve the public transportation system, and as more Malaysians experience the speed and convenience of contactless payment for tolled highways and public transport, the growth in e-payment transactions is expected to sustain its double-digit growth rate in the coming years," the central bank added.
In 2012, its priorities were directed at ensuring the Real-Time Electronic Transfer of Funds and Securities System (Rentas), that facilitates the transfer and settlement of high-value interbank payments and securities in the country.
Nearly all banking institutions offer businesses the convenience of initiating Rentas payments to achieve greater efficiency.
Rentas accounted for 49.2 times of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), with an average of RM188 billion settled via the system daily.
Bank Negara and the industry will embark progressively to build on the momentum achieved thus far, and intensify efforts to achieve the targets set by 2020.
Among the key initiatives that will be rolled out in 2013 are, the implementation of a new pricing framework for efficient payment services, improving transparency by banking institutions of online banking fees and introducing banking products that use e-payments over paper-based payments.
Bank Negara said payments fraud remained negligible and continued its declining trend, with fraud incidents accounting for less than 0.005 per cent of total volume and value of retail payment transactions in 2012.
However, the level of fraud had declined significantly, since the introduction of the more secure chip-based cards in 2004 and 2005 to counter fraudulent skimming. - Bernama
