A study by digital payment service provider Visa has shown that more than 90% of Malaysians are familiar with contactless payments, with almost 70% of them using it. This translates to the fact that seven out of ten Malaysian consumers are now actively using contactless card payments.

Revealed in the 2022 Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes (CPA) Study, Visa said that in the previous year, only 56% of Malaysians were actively using contactless card payments. As such, this increase indicated that Malaysia is on its way to becoming a cashless society. 

“Attempts to go cashless are relatively high in Malaysia, driven by younger consumers such as Gen Z and Gen Y who are leading the percentage of consumers attempting to go cashless. Malaysia is expected to be a cashless society by 2030, meaning the majority of consumers will be using cashless methods and no longer relying on cash for their daily transactions,” Visa shared in its report.

The study also revealed that Malaysians typically use contactless payments at supermarkets (53%), retail stores (46%), and restaurants (44%). Additionally, Malaysians preferred contactless payments when paying for their groceries at the supermarkets, retail shopping, and making purchases for entertainment.

Country manager for Visa Malaysia, Ng Kong Boon further noted that Malaysia has become one of the most developed markets in Asia Pacific, with regard to using contactless payments. Eight out of ten Visa transactions are contactless payments, he said.

“Compared to 2019, whereby only three in ten Visa transactions made in the country were contactless payments. We are proud to share that contactless payments have grown significantly over the past few years, especially when we compare its growth since the pandemic,” said Ng.

Ng also commented that Visa has been working with merchants to grow Malaysia’s acceptance of contactless payments, as well as to educate consumers on its benefits. Both efforts have yielded great results, he shared.

“Our mobile pay partners launching mobile contactless payments in Malaysia have also supported this growth in usage. Consumers value the convenience of being able to tap and pay using their mobile devices and embrace it as a secure way to pay given every transaction is tokenised,” shared Ng.

The 2022 Visa CPA study was a regional research project that was conducted across Southeast Asia, with a total of 6,550 participants across seven markets, namely Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Within Malaysia, a total of 1,000 Malaysians aged 18 to 65 participated in the study.

(Sources: Visa, The Sun Daily)

• TAGS:
• Cashless Payments
• Contactless Payments
• Ng Kong Boon
• Visa
• Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Study