Top Mobile Payment Service Providers in Malaysia 2020 and their Reaction to the COVID-19 Crisis

Covid-19 has Accelerated Malaysian Consumers’ Interest in Mobile Payments

Mobile payments boosted by spread of COVID-19 in Malaysia

Supported by the Governments E-Wallet popularization programs during the outbreak of COVID-19, E-Wallet providers have flourished during the coronavirus pandemic. A survey cited in the yStats.com report reflects that two-fifths of Malaysian consumers have adopted E-Wallets, as of June 2020. This puts the country in the first place in E-Wallet adoption among Southeast Asian countries. Moreover, the number of digital wallets in the country had been constantly growing throughout 2019 and has especially accelerated after the outbreak of coronavirus this year.

Competition between the Malaysian payment providers strengthens amid the health crisis

Amid the pandemic in Malaysia, the top mobile payment providers were Touch ‘n Go, Boost, GrabPay and BigPay. With that, Touch ‘n Go was preferred for use by four in five Malaysian consumers in September 2020. At the same time, Maybank2u, an online payment service from the largest Malaysian bank, is maintaining its market position and attracts new customers by offering an all-in-one payment app in October 2020, as detailed in the yStats.com report.

During the coronavirus, digital wallets in Malaysia undergo a surge in the use of their services

Malaysian E-Wallet BigPay saw about five-times growth in remittance transaction volume via its platform amid the pandemic. Moreover, standard E-Wallet services are gaining momentum, as Malaysian digital wallet Boost has noted a doubling in the weekly transaction value of its users in August, compared to December 2019.

Report Coverage

• This report covers the Malaysian payment market with a focus on the reaction of the top Mobile Payment Service Providers to the COVID-19 outbreak. It includes information related to payment methods used, transaction volumes, payment trends and recent COVID-19 related news of the top Mobile PSPs in Malaysia.
• Our report focuses on the strategies adopted by Malaysian Mobile PSP’s during the COVID-19 pandemic. Information related to both remote and in-store payments.  
• The data in the reports is from sources mostly published in the previous 12 months. The exact date of publication of the source is stated on each chart. The time period which the data refers to differs by source.

Report Structure

• The Overview chapter opens the report, featuring a summary of the payments market in Malaysia. The latest trends and developments are summarized on the text charts and data highlights are provided on quantitative charts.
• The rest of the report is divided by the top four Mobile PSP’s presented in the descending order of consumer preference. Within each chapter, there is a company profile as well as text charts with relevant news and quantitative charts.
• Depending on data availability, the following types of market information are included: value and/or volume of transactions, number of users, payment methods used in-store and online, plus COVID-19’s impact on the Mobile PSPs.
• Not all the mentioned types of information are provided for each of the covered Payment Service Providers due to varying data availability.

Please note: For this report, the purchase of an Enterprise license allows up to ten worldwide users of an organization access to the report