Paydibs POS: Small Merchants Can Now Get Business Insurance Bundled

Christina Chandra

14th April 2026 - 4 min read

Many small business owners in Malaysia have long operated without insurance, not necessarily by choice, but because traditional policies can feel complicated and disconnected from the day-to-day reality of running a shop or outlet. A new arrangement between Paydibs Sdn Bhd and Great Eastern General Insurance (Malaysia) Berhad, announced on 13 April 2026, takes a different approach by embedding insurance directly into a payment terminal that merchants already use.

Paydibs is a registered payment gateway provider in Malaysia. Its terminals allow merchants to accept digital payments in person. Under the new partnership, selected business insurance coverage from Great Eastern will be bundled with the Paydibs terminal, meaning merchants who adopt the device can also receive protection without going through a separate insurance application.

Small Merchants Remain A Largely Underinsured Group

Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) make up approximately 97% of business establishments in Malaysia, contributing around 39% of the country’s GDP and 48% of total employment. Despite that economic weight, a significant share of these businesses remain without adequate insurance coverage.

The reasons are fairly consistent across the sector. For many small merchants, standalone business insurance feels like an extra step, one that involves products that seem designed for larger operations or that require navigating a process that takes time they do not have. The result is that everyday risks, including physical damage to premises, theft, or temporary disruption, often go uncovered.

Protection Against Fires, Theft, And Business Disruptions

The insurance package consolidates several types of coverage into a single offering. It covers accidental damage to shop premises caused by events such as fire, flood, or break-ins, loss of cash while in transit or kept on-site, employer-related liabilities, and unexpected disruptions that may temporarily halt business operations.

Merchants who are already using or adopting the Paydibs terminal receive this coverage as part of their arrangement with the platform. There is no separate policy to purchase or a standalone application to complete.

Great Eastern provides the underwriting, governance oversight, and product structuring behind the programme. That distinction matters, because it is not simply a referral arrangement. Great Eastern’s involvement in the ongoing management of the programme affects whether it remains financially sound and whether claims hold up over the long term.

A Lower Barrier To Business Protection For Everyday Merchants

If you run a small business and already use Paydibs to process payments, the coverage comes as part of your existing setup rather than requiring a separate purchase. That removes one of the more common reasons small merchants stay uninsured, which is that acting on it requires a deliberate, separate effort.

The type of protection on offer is relevant to most physical businesses. Coverage against fire, flood, or break-in damage addresses risks that are difficult to absorb without insurance, particularly for merchants operating out of a single premises. Cash-in-transit coverage is useful if your business handles physical takings. The employer liability portion matters more if you have staff working on site.

That said, bundled insurance products are worth reading carefully before assuming they cover everything a business might need. A merchant in a higher-risk location, or one with more complex operational requirements, may find that the bundled coverage is a useful starting point but not a full replacement for a more tailored policy. The practical question is whether the included protection matches the risks your specific business actually faces.

Bringing Insurance To Where Small Businesses Already Operate

Tee Kean Kang, Chief Executive Officer of Paydibs, framed the partnership as part of a broader shift in what payment platforms offer merchants. He noted that payments alone are no longer sufficient and that businesses need tools that help them manage operational risks alongside their transactions.

Jeremy Yeap, Chief Executive Officer of Great Eastern General Insurance (Malaysia) Berhad, said the partnership reflects an effort to close the protection gap among small merchants by making insurance more accessible through tools they already use in daily operations.

The model is part of a wider trend in how insurance reaches underserved groups. Rather than expecting merchants to seek out coverage independently, embedding it within payment infrastructure brings protection to where business activity already happens. Whether this changes coverage rates meaningfully across the MSME sector will depend on how widely the Paydibs terminal is adopted and whether the programme remains accessible over time. For merchants already on the platform, the more immediate question is whether the coverage that comes with their terminal is actually sufficient for the risks their business faces day to day.

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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