THE
Covid-19 has resulted in more than 80% growth for e-wallet usage in the
country, as limited movement pushes cashless payments among Malaysians in the
past 18 months.
Based
on Google’s e-Conomy South-East Asia 2020 report, e-wallets transactions rose
to an average of 25% post-Covid-19, indicating that consumers will continue to
use digital payments, given their convenience.
In
fact, Malaysians recorded an average of 170 digital payments in 2020 and a
report by Boku Inc highlighted that e-wallets are the most preferred payment
method among consumers in South-East Asia.
Finance
Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz had noted in his opening
keynote address at the recent Malaysian Banking and Finance Summit 2021 that
e-wallet volume has increased 89% to 468 million transactions in just one year
up to June 2021.
TNG
Digital Sdn Bhd CEO Ignatius Ong told The Malaysian Reserve (TMR) that as of
the first half of 2021 (1H21), online use cases grew by 86% compared to the
post eTunai and ePenjana period (in 2020) versus offline use cases with an
increase of 75%.
“We
observed that more users are actively transferring e-money within our Touch ‘n
Go eWallet ecosystem compared to a year ago, where the ‘Transfer’ feature
recorded an increase of 182%.
“The
pandemic and the enforcement of the Movement Control Orders have boosted the
adoption of e-wallet as the situation has pushed consumers into cashless
payments with their new shopping and payment habits,” he said in a recent
interview.
“The
eWallet is secure, with advanced security solutions such as biometric
authentication that can reduce the threat of fraud and chargebacks.
“There
are also fewer steps to complete a purchase on the eWallet. Additionally,
businesses can offer more rewards on the eWallet while users benefit from
discounts or reward points,” he said.
Ong
added that e-wallet is suitable as an everyday wallet and plays a crucial part
in the “new normal”.
E-wallet
usage has become essential for purchasing goods, settling bills, food delivery,
road tax renewal, insurance purchase, mobile reloads and more.
Additionally,
he said Touch ‘n Go eWallet users can also track their spending easily as the
eWallet records all transactions digitally and automatically.
He
pointed out that merchants were also quick to adopt and embrace the trend as
more consumers embraced the usage of e-wallets.
“Touch
‘n Go eWallet currently has more than one million merchants touchpoints,
including DuitNow QR, the national QR standard.
“At
Touch ‘n Go, we encourage more onboarding for small and medium enterprises
(SMEs), and micro-merchants to adopt the e-commerce and e-payment platforms as
it allows them to access more than 16 million users across Malaysia,” Ong said.
The
firm launched the DuitNow Transfer function yesterday, allowing its users to
move their monies from any Internet banking account directly to the eWallet in
real-time.
Meanwhile,
Boost CEO Sheyantha Abeykoon stated that for 18 months from January 2020 to
June 2021, Boost eWallet merchant base increased by over 85%.
He
said about 50% of the platform’s new merchants consist of traditional
cash-based micro, SMEs.
“During
the period, our user base grew by over 76% and our gross transaction value for
payments made to online merchants increased by over 35%.
“At
the start of the pandemic, our offline QR code-based transactions accounted for
almost 70% of our domestic payment volumes and online volumes were 30%.
“By
mid-2021, we saw a huge shift and 65% of our payment volumes were generated by
online use cases,” he told TMR.
According
to him, Boost previously had over 9.3 million users and the platform user base
grew by over 76% over the 18-month pandemic period of January 2020 to June
2021.
He
added that consumers have opted for safer and more seamless means of
transacting as the pandemic raged on.
“For
instance, by the end of 2020, we saw a steep 75% increase in our user base and
a 65% increase in our merchant base, which was representative of the desire to
shift to cashless payment options.
“We
believe that some of these trends, in particular, the usage of contactless
payments and adoption of digitised means of operating for small business will
outlast the pandemic and represent structural shifts in the behaviour of our
customers,” he said.
He
added that Boost eWallet saw a 40% increase in bill payment on the platform in
1H21 compared to 1H20.
“Partnerships
and collaborations also drove e-wallet adoption. Malaysians were already
becoming accustomed to online shopping by then, so the addition of our e-wallet
as a payment option made it a convenient choice for customers.
“Additionally,
business owners also played a big role in driving e-wallet adoption. Businesses
needed to adapt to the pandemic and our merchants took our service well and it
helped drive the e-wallet usage,” he noted.
Apart
from that, Abeykoon said another aspect of the new normal is the use of QR
codes being synonymous or second nature with our lifestyle now.
He
emphasised that our daily outdoor activities involve scanning a QR code to
check-in and check-out wherever we go using the MySejahtera app, and this has
helped Malaysians familiarise themselves with scanning QR codes.
He
also noted that offline e-wallet payments primarily use QR codes which made it
familiar for new e-wallet users to come on board.
Source:The Malaysian Reserve