Kuala Lumpur: Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PayNet) revealed the percentage of Malaysians that use cash to pay has fallen 11 percentage points to 78 per cent from 89 per cent before the pandemic.
Based on the ‘PayNet Digital Payments Insights Study 2022’ findings released Wednesday, Malaysians continue to predominantly use cash for payments, reliance on cash has dropped, similar to findings in other countries.
“However, fewer Malaysians use cash when it comes to daily payments (48.4 per cent) and less so in urban areas (36.2 per cent), likely contributed by the rise of QR payments, established trust in debit cards, as well as due to fears of becoming infected by handling cash,” it said in a statement Wednesday.
PayNet said businesses, except those in the East Coast and Southern regions, experienced changes in customer payment behaviour since the pandemic with cash no longer being the primary payment method while the Northern region showed the most pronounced change.
The report also highlights the digital transformation priorities of SMEs and the barriers faced in adopting digital payments, and lists four key drivers for sustained digital payments adoption.
The study presents findings from a field study conducted in the fourth quarter of 2021 (Q4 2021) to gain a deeper understanding of the payment preferences of the public and businesses, with particular focus on relevance of cash and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) adoption of digital payments.
“This is our inaugural study and we plan to undertake future studies to better understand the payment behaviour of the rakyat, their attitudes towards digital payment methods and the factors driving change in payment preference, to ensure PayNet and its ecosystem maintain a secure, reliable, efficient and inclusive central payment infrastructure for Malaysia,” said PayNet Group chief executive officer Peter Schiesser.
