Bank Negara reports a 25% jump in e-payment transactions to 18.4 billion in 2025, driven by mobile banking and contactless payments.
KUALA LUMPUR: E-payment transactions in Malaysia grew by 25% to 18.4 billion in 2025, up from 14.7 billion the previous year.
This equates to an average of 538 e-payments per Malaysian, a significant increase from 432 in 2024.
Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) revealed these figures in its Annual Report 2025, noting the growth exceeded its blueprint target.
The central bank stated that the annual average growth rate from 2022 to 2025 was 17%, surpassing the Financial Sector Blueprint target of 15%.
“The growth in 2025 was supported by steady consumption activity,” BNM said in the report.
This was reflected in a 19% increase in the value of retail e-payment transactions to RM831 billion.
BNM also highlighted growing user confidence in e-money, with the average transaction size rising to RM43 from RM33.
This indicates its use for higher-value payments, not just daily spending.
Mobile banking continued as the dominant online channel, capturing a 64% market share.
Its growth outpaced internet banking, aided by high smartphone penetration for on-the-go transactions.
Card payments saw healthy growth, with debit card transaction growth nearly doubling that of credit cards.
Contactless payments gained strong traction, growing by 20.3% to two billion transactions.
This was driven by the ease and speed of the payment method.
DuitNow QR transaction volume doubled to three billion, aided by convenience and wide merchant acceptance.
Nearly three million DuitNow QR touchpoints were registered across Malaysia by the end of 2025.
E-remittance services by licensed providers surged by 70.1% to reach RM31.6 billion in value.
Digital currency exchange transactions by non-bank exchangers also rose by 29.1% to RM7.6 billion.
For the current year, BNM said it will continue efforts to ensure secure and reliable payment services.
This includes expanding digital payment adoption and strengthening fraud prevention measures.
The central bank will also advance work on asset tokenisation and digital money, including a Central Bank Digital Currency.
This work aims to establish a clear regulatory framework for responsible digital finance innovation.
