PETALING JAYA: MCA president Wee Ka Siong has urged the government to make all banks expedite payments to merchants within 48 hours of receiving funds to enhance cash flow for merchants and improve the economy’s “velocity of money”.
In a Facebook post, Wee said banks should no longer cite public holidays and weekends as grounds for delaying payments to merchants, especially with the increasing adoption of e-payments and IT automation.
“After all, banks do not stop charging interest on loans during public holidays and weekends, so why should they benefit from the free float when they delay payments to merchants?” he asked.
“As we are aware, there are 104 days of Saturdays and Sundays in the year 2024 and up to 25 days of federal and state public holidays.”
Wee, who is Ayer Hitam MP, said the banking system processed approximately RM1.4 trillion in e-payments, according to Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) data.
“So the banks make a lot of money from the free float, from delaying payments to merchants on top of the merchant fees when collecting e-payments,” he said.
BNM previously revealed that Malaysia recorded 9.5 billion e-payment transactions in 2022, a jump from 7.2 billion back in 2021.
The average number of e-payment transactions per Malaysian increased from 222 in 2021 to 291 in 2022, according to BNM.
