Market Research Reports - Ken Research Credit Card Demand Future Outlook Malaysia

Innovative electronic devices in cards and payment industry drive the growth Malaysian
banking sector: Ken Research
The cards and payment market in Malaysia includes payment cards, online payments, P2P
payments, and newer payment technologies such as mobile wallets and contactless. It was
observed that the use of cash still remains relatively high in Malaysia and the payment
technology is expected to grow rapidly over the coming years. Therefore, the Malaysian banks
are providing payments products and services that are as easy to use, convenient, and secure to
actively promote digital payments. Majority of the merchants are promoting card adoption with
reward programs and benefits to encourage consumers to use their cards. Malaysia’s e-
commerce market will witness a huge growth compared to the other Southeast Asian countries
in the cards and payments sector in the near future. Malaysian cards and payments industry
operations include credit transfers, payment cards, cash, direct debits, and cheques. The
leading banks in Malaysia are Maybank, Bank Simpanan Nasional, CIMB Bank, Hong Leong
Bank, Public Bank, Citibank, HSBC, Bankcard, AmBank, Global Payments, Visa, Mastercard,
American Express which offer sophisticated cards and payment services such as contactless
technology.
Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) is actively supporting the development of Fintech in Malaysia by
participating in events and regulatory training to help Fintech understand the regulatory
landscape in the country. The country has created awareness among the population about the
use of payment cards, electronic funds transfers and online banking services. Malaysia’s central
bank has educated the population about the benefits of using financial cards, safe practices
when using financial cards and going cashless. The country has also implementing PIN-enabled
payment cards, an extra security measure for payment cards. The growth in the payment cards
in Malaysia is expected to witness a positive growth over the coming years. A strong growth is
expected in the category of debit cards compared to the other financial card categories.
According to the study “The Cards and Payments Industry in Malaysia: Emerging trends and
opportunities to 2020”, the rural population in Malaysia depended on cash for the majority of
their transactions. The government and banks provided basic financial and banking services
while expanding banking infrastructure, launching new branches, promoting agent banking
networks, and making efforts to change consumer payment habits. The payment cards such as
debit cards, credit cards and charge cards were gradually accepted and massive growth in this
sector was observed. Majority of the Malaysians are using their debit cards for cash
withdrawals at ATMs rather than payments at merchant outlets. To encourage the consumers
to use their debit cards at the merchant outlets for payments, the central bank in Malaysia
plans to establish 800,000 point of sale (POS) terminals by the year 2020.