KUALA LUMPUR (March 21): The central bank plans to expand the adoption of electronic payments (e-payments) in the country as an alternative to conventional methods to promote transaction efficiency.
In its 2011 Financial Stability and Payment Systems report, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) said it needed the commitment from all stakeholders to realise the goal.
“The bank’s efforts in driving improvements in the efficiency of e-payment services coupled with support from the public and private sectors and improvements in the enabling environment, notably the advances in telecommunication services, have contributed to increasing the use of e-payments in Malaysia
“Among the immediate priorities are to promote greater interoperability through enhancements to the payment infrastructure, and to implement appropriate pricing reforms to strengthen incentives for the migration to more cost-effective payment modes,” BNM said.
According to the central bank, the average number of e-payment transactions per capita grew 14% to 50 in 2011 from 44 in 2010. The increase was mainly due to the higher usage of electronic money (e-money) and Internet banking.
The number of e-money transactions grew 15.4% to 806.8 million transactions worth RM3.8 billion in 2011 compared with 699.3 million transactions valued at RM2.7 billion in 2010, according to BNM.
As e-money transactions were mainly concentrated within the transportation industry, the growth was mainly helped by higher traffic volume along tolled highways and the usage of cashless ticketing machines on public buses , it said.
BNM said the wider adoption of e-money was also seen in the mass transit and rail segments where usage rose almost three-fold to 61.2 million transactions in 2011. For parking, it said more than 12.1 million payments were made using e-money, a growth of 45.8% from 2010.
The adoption of Internet banking had also risen. The central bank said in line with the increase in the household broadband penetration rate from 15.5% in 2007 to 62.3% in 2011, the number of active subscribers of Internet banking has more than doubled over the past five years.
In its 2011 Financial Stability and Payment Systems report, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) said it needed the commitment from all stakeholders to realise the goal.
“The bank’s efforts in driving improvements in the efficiency of e-payment services coupled with support from the public and private sectors and improvements in the enabling environment, notably the advances in telecommunication services, have contributed to increasing the use of e-payments in Malaysia
“Among the immediate priorities are to promote greater interoperability through enhancements to the payment infrastructure, and to implement appropriate pricing reforms to strengthen incentives for the migration to more cost-effective payment modes,” BNM said.
According to the central bank, the average number of e-payment transactions per capita grew 14% to 50 in 2011 from 44 in 2010. The increase was mainly due to the higher usage of electronic money (e-money) and Internet banking.
The number of e-money transactions grew 15.4% to 806.8 million transactions worth RM3.8 billion in 2011 compared with 699.3 million transactions valued at RM2.7 billion in 2010, according to BNM.
As e-money transactions were mainly concentrated within the transportation industry, the growth was mainly helped by higher traffic volume along tolled highways and the usage of cashless ticketing machines on public buses , it said.
BNM said the wider adoption of e-money was also seen in the mass transit and rail segments where usage rose almost three-fold to 61.2 million transactions in 2011. For parking, it said more than 12.1 million payments were made using e-money, a growth of 45.8% from 2010.
The adoption of Internet banking had also risen. The central bank said in line with the increase in the household broadband penetration rate from 15.5% in 2007 to 62.3% in 2011, the number of active subscribers of Internet banking has more than doubled over the past five years.
