KUALA LUMPUR – In the wake of the pandemic, the percentage of Malaysians who pay with cash has dropped to 78% from 89% previously, according to Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PayNet).
A recently released study shows that while Malaysian still prefer to pay with cash, their reliance on physical cash has decreased. This is consistent with the findings in other nations.
The data results also show that less than half of the respondents (48.4% ) use cash for daily payments and the numbers decrease further in urban areas to 36.2%. This is possibly attributed to the increase in usage of QR payments, established trust in debit cards and fears of being infected with COVID-19 through handling physical cash.
Furthermore, PayNet stated that the payment habits of customers have changed since the pandemic with businesses stating that customers no longer use cash predominantly as their mode of payment. The changes were most noticeable in the Northern region whereas things remain largely the same for the East Coast and Southern regions.
In addition to this, the report also discusses the priorities for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in adopting digital transformation along with ways they can overcome the challenges of implementing digital payments. It also identifies four critical factors to help SMEs implement digital payments.
The field research was done in the fourth quarter of 2021 (Q4 2021) in order to get a deeper understanding regarding the payment preferences of the public and businesses. The main focus of the report was on the relevance of cash and the adoption of digital payments by SMEs.
As part of the company’s long-term strategy, PayNet Group chief executive officer Peter Schiesser said the company will continue to perform future studies in order to better understand Malaysian’s payment habits.
This includes the attitudes toward digital payment methods along with factors that create change in payment preference in order to ensure a secure, reliable, efficient and inclusive central payment infrastructure, he added.
Read the full report here.
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