Contactless Card Payments Usage Surges in Malaysia – Visa Study
07/04/2023
As the nation returns to normalcy, findings from the latest edition of Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Study revealed that seven in 10 consumers are now using contactless cards for payments1. The study was conducted by CLEAR on behalf of Visa across seven Southeast Asian countries including Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
More than 90 percent of Malaysians are familiar with contactless payments, and almost 70 percent of them are using contactless payments in the country2. This is an increase from 56 percent compared to the previous year. The top categories that Malaysians have been using contactless payments include supermarkets (53%), retail stores (46%) and restaurants (44%).
Based on the study, Malaysian consumers also indicated that contactless payment is their most preferred payment method when paying for their groceries at the supermarket, retail shopping and making purchases for entertainment.
“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. In 2019, three in 10 Visa transactions were contactless payments, and today, Malaysia has become one of the most developed contactless payments markets in Asia Pacific, where eight in 10 Visa transactions are contactless payments. Over the years, we have worked with our merchants to expand contactless payments acceptance across everyday spend categories in Malaysia, and issuers to educate consumers about the benefits of contactless payments and we are seeing great results,” said Ng Kong Boon, Visa Country Manager for Malaysia.
“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”, added Kong Boon.
The study highlighted that Malaysians are becoming more cashless, given card payments have overtaken cash usage in the country. Majority of Malaysians indicated that they have used credit or debit card payments (92%) compared to 86 percent who have used cash. In addition, more than three in four have attempted to go cashless. Close to 70 percent (67%) of consumers in the country have tried to go cashless for at least a few days.
Close to 50 percent of Malaysian consumers said that they are carrying less cash in their wallets compared to before. The top reasons for carrying less cash include using more contactless card or mobile payments, more places adopting cashless payments and fear of carrying cash as it may be lost or stolen.
For more information on Visa, please visit www.visa.com.my
1 The Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Study was conducted in October 2022 by CLEAR with 1,000 Malaysians aged 18-65 years of age. This is part of a regional research project conducted in Southeast Asia on 6,550 consumers across 7 markets.
2 Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes study
About Visa Inc.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is the world’s leader in digital payments. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure payment network - enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. Our advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The company’s relentless focus on innovation is a catalyst for the rapid growth of digital commerce on any device for everyone, everywhere. As the world moves from analog to digital, Visa is applying our brand, products, people, network and scale to reshape the future of commerce. For more information, visit www.visa.com.my