KUALA LUMPUR (July 14): Real-time payments in Malaysia enjoy the same robust security as other digital payments, leveraging traditional banking infrastructure and security, according to ACI Worldwide vice president and head of ASEAN Ong Chee Cheng.
In an email reply to theedgemarkets.com, Ong said at present, new solutions adopt a collaborative and proactive approach using data, behavioural analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.
He said this allows real-time analysis of consumer behaviour and locations — and scanning for anomalies and inconsistencies to help anticipate and prevent attacks before they occur — all in real time.
Ong was commenting on the industry in Malaysia after it was recently reported that Malaysia achieved remarkable speed in the nationwide implementation of real-time payments (RTP), and its rapid adoption by banks.
According to ACI Worldwide in the Prime-Time for Real Time 2022 report, driving this evolution is a concerted effort from the government, central bank, national switch, and industry to modernise and innovate the country’s payment infrastructure, and harmonise the nation’s payment structure.
This report leverages GlobalData’s Instant Payments market sizing data as well as insights into adoption of mobile wallets, use of online payment tools and consumer experiences of fraud from GlobalData’s Financial Services Consumer Survey.
The report said Malaysia recorded 1.1 billion real-time transactions in 2021, which resulted in estimated cost savings of US$484 million (about RM2.15 billion) for businesses and consumers in addition to US$394 million worth in economic output.
Ong said Malaysia’s real-time payments benefit from wide-ranging support from both the private and public sectors.
He said that initially, the key to adoption was the concerted effort of the national switch, government, and the central bank to ensure the whole banking community complied with ISO 20022, leveraging a unified solution.
“This was one of the crucial success factors that served to harmonise the nation’s payment structure.
“As a result, the speed with which Malaysia implemented nationwide real-time payments and the rapid adoption of RTP by local banks has been remarkable,” he said.
Ong said the rapid adoption and harmonisation will continue to energise banks and the private sector to embrace real-time payments.
“So, while the government was primarily responsible for driving standardisation and accelerating initial adoption and innovation, the private sector and consumers played, and continue to play, a key role in achieving the next phase of the country’s real-time journey,” he said.