Malaysians made 8.44 billion digital payment transactions over the course of 2025, according to Payments Network Malaysia (PayNet), the company that operates the country’s national payments infrastructure including DuitNow, FPX, and JomPAY.

The figure translates to roughly 23 million transactions per day on average, up by 6.3 million daily transactions compared with 2024. The data points to a shift in where and how digital payments are being adopted, with non-urban areas and smaller businesses contributing more than before.

Digital Payments Taking Hold Outside The Cities

The strongest year-on-year growth was recorded in Terengganu, Kelantan, and Kedah, where non-urban transaction volumes tripled compared with 2024. This stands out because previous years of digital payments growth have largely been concentrated in more urbanised states.

A total of 681,250 new DuitNow QR acceptance points were added during the year, of which 267,780 were among micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The nationwide total now exceeds three million registered DuitNow QR touchpoints.

The jump in non-bank transaction volumes is also notable. While bank-driven transactions grew by 30.69% year-on-year, non-bank transactions grew by 71.7%, pointing to wider participation from fintech platforms, e-wallets, and other financial service providers beyond the traditional banking system.

Fraud Response Efforts Helped Return RM46 Million To Victims

As transaction volumes increased, so did fraud activity. PayNet acknowledged that financial frauds have grown more sophisticated, with tactics now involving artificial intelligence, deepfakes, and social engineering that are harder to detect in real time.

The National Fraud Portal (NFP), developed and operated by PayNet, functions as a centralised system that allows participating financial institutions to share information and flag mule accounts more quickly. In 2025, these efforts contributed to the identification of around 57,700 victim accounts, with approximately RM46 million in earmarked funds in the process of being returned to affected users.

The system also supports the National Scam Response Centre, which coordinates responses to scam reports. PayNet’s network maintained 99.995% service availability while processing an average of 260 transactions per second throughout the year.

Malaysian Businesses Can Now Accept Payments From More Regional Visitors

Cross-border DuitNow QR transactions grew 2.5 times to 29.7 million in 2025. A new QR payment linkage with Cambodia was introduced during the year, adding to existing connections with Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and China. India is expected to be added in 2026, which PayNet says is timed to support inbound spending as part of the Visit Malaysia 2026 programme.

For businesses, especially smaller operators, this means a tourist or traveller from any of these countries can pay directly via their own country’s QR payment app without needing cash or a local card.

A Payments Landscape That Is Changing Gradually

The 8.44 billion figure reflects the cumulative effect of several years of infrastructure investment and behaviour change, rather than a sudden shift in 2025. For most Malaysians, this shows up in small and incremental ways, such as more merchants at pasar malam and roadside stalls accepting QR payments, or DuitNow transfers replacing cash for splitting bills and paying rent.

The tripling of non-urban transaction volumes in states like Kelantan and Terengganu is a meaningful indicator that adoption is no longer concentrated in Klang Valley and larger cities. If you are in a smaller town or rural area, the practical effect is that more of the places you buy from are now set up for cashless payment, even if the shift has been gradual.

The anti-scam work remains ongoing. The RM46 million figure represents funds in the process of being returned, not amounts already fully recovered, and the NFP’s effectiveness depends on how quickly institutions share information after a fraud report is made. As digital payments become more embedded in daily life, the security infrastructure behind them will continue to be tested at scale.

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Christina Chandra

Christina writes about personal finance with an eye for making the complicated feel straightforward. She is drawn to the everyday money decisions people face and genuinely enjoys finding the clearest way to explain them. Between articles, she is probably napping, on a hiking trail, or terrorising her sister’s cats.

About THE AUTHOR

Christina Chandra

Christina Chandra

Christina writes about personal finance with an eye for making the complicated feel straightforward. She is drawn to the everyday money decisions people face and genuinely enjoys finding the clearest way to explain them. Between articles, she is probably napping, on a hiking trail, or terrorising her sister's cats.

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