According to Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) global Index and benchmarking study commissioned by Visa, Malaysia is ranked 19th among 73 countries in the e-payment capabilities based on various indicators such as policies and infrastructure.
The objective of the study is to measure the enabling environment for government e-payment adoption such as 1) the availability of government electronic transaction services and 2) the mechanisms supporting digitisation for all transactions in a policy and infrastructure market.
Malaysia is one of the top-performing countries in Business-to-Government (B2G), Citizen-to-Government (C2G) and Government-to-Citizen (G2C) transactions.
Norway tops the Government E-Payments Adoption Ranking (GEAR) list, scoring 89.7 points in the seven categories, followed by France (89.4) and Denmark (88.8). Malaysia’s overall score is 78.8 points.
In the B2G category, Malaysia ranks first with a perfect score of 100 points, due to various initiatives in the payment space.
And for the C2G and G2C categories, Malaysia is ranked eighth. Malaysians can access a range of C2G and G2C transactions through an interoperable platform. For C2G, they can utilise digital payments for automotive tolls, and pay any traffic summons. Under G2C category, they can receive notifications on summons or expiry of road tax, and have the documents delivered to their houses at no cost.
Under Government-to-Business (G2B) transactions, Malaysia can further enhance e-payment adoption by investing in infrastructure, and implementing policies that encourage growth and innovation.
“The Malaysian government has taken major steps to move the country into the digital age. Having one of the highest scores in Southeast Asia is a testament that the country is transforming to be a digital nation. We will continue to work closely with them to further improve and promote digital payments to all Malaysians,” said Ng Kong Boon, Visa Country Manager for Malaysia.
Malaysia is ranked 28th in the infrastructure category and 34th in the social and economic category. Infrastructure and social-economic conditions do play a crucial role in increasing the adoption of digital payments.
Malaysia has done extremely well in the policy context of government’s commitment to e-payments security, support for Fintech innovation and financial inclusion, scoring 100 points in these areas.
