KUALA LUMPUR – Bentong MP Young Syefura Othman has urged the relevant authorities to intervene in Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd’s (PayNet) decision to cease waiving the merchant discount rate (MDR) for traders who use the DuitNow QR code payment platform.
Claiming that the “disappointing and backward” move will affect small traders and businesses still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, the DAP lawmaker said that Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Finance Ministry must immediately intervene.
“The actions of the DuitNow QR system operators (PayNet) will have an indirect effect on consumers as merchants will no longer want to use the platform as one of their payment methods and will instead return to cash transactions.
“The imposition of the transaction fee will also have an impact on government initiatives such as the e-wallet assistance provided to youths and other measures to encourage cashless transactions, especially at government counters,” Young Syefura said in a statement today.
She also recommended that banks absorb the transaction fee, saying, “This is what has been done so far, and no problems have arisen, with banks recording more profits every year despite shouldering (the MDR) cost.”
Earlier today, PayNet confirmed with Scoop that merchants will be charged a transaction fee for payments received through the DuitNow QR code platform beginning October 1, not November 1, as reported by several news sites.
Following conflicting information in its Bahasa Malaysia and English statements, a source from PayNet clarified to Scoop that the MDR waiver will be lifted on October 1.
Explaining that the MDR was waived during the QR payment introductory period in 2019 to incentivize adoption of the payment method, PayNet said that the waiver was further extended due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It is neither a new nor an additional fee. Instead, October 1 is the end of the MDR waiver that was supposed to have been done over nine months ago.”
PayNet also recommended that merchants consult their banks or third-party acquirers to confirm whether or not they will be impacted by the waiver-lifting, as several banks and third-party acquirers intend to either continue to defer imposing MDR or absorb it for smaller businesses.
It added that it does not foresee prices of goods and services being affected by purchases using DuitNow QR after the MDR is imposed.
So far, CIMB Bank has announced that it will be retaining its zero transaction fees policy, dubbed the CIMB Static QR – 0% Promotional Rate, until December 31 for merchants who use the DuitNow payment method at their premises.
According to a screenshot posted by a Twitter user on the social media site, the RHB Reflex platform had also sent out an email informing its users that the MDR fee would be automatically deducted from users’ current or savings account on the fifth day of each subsequent month.
The email stated that starting from November 1, merchants have to pay 0.25% of the DuitNow QR transaction value, with the fee increasing to 0.5% if the transaction is performed using a credit card. – September 28, 2023