Malaysia's major banks Maybank and Public Bank have reiterated their stance on continuing to waive transaction fees for merchants using the DuitNow QR payment platform. The announcements came in response to Payments Network (LON:NETW) Malaysia's (PayNet) confirmation that a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) would be imposed on DuitNow QR transactions starting October 1, 2023.
On Friday, Maybank announced that it will continue to defer the DuitNow QR transaction fees on merchants until further notice. "We wish to inform that Maybank has not implemented any fees in relation to DuitNow QR, and this will continue until further notice," the bank said. Any changes to this policy will be communicated to the merchants ahead of time.
Public Bank also confirmed its decision to indefinitely waive the DuitNow QR transaction fee. The bank had made this announcement even before PayNet publicly revealed October 1 as the official implementation date of the MDR.
Another major local bank, CIMB, has also waived the DuitNow QR transaction fees on merchants but this waiver will only last until December 31, 2023.
PayNet, the national payment network operator, clarified that the MDR is not a new concept as it has been implemented for debit and credit card payments. The imposition of MDR on DuitNow QR payments was initially planned much earlier but had been deferred due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The operator also addressed concerns about MDR costs being passed onto consumers. PayNet explained that purchases using credit and debit cards were already subject to MDR. However, backlash followed PayNet's announcement about withdrawing the MDR waiver for DuitNow QR payments from November 1 onwards.
The MDR was initially waived as an incentive to encourage use during the introduction period of QR payment in 2019. This waiver was extended due to the Covid-19 epidemic, and PayNet emphasized that the MDR is neither a new fee nor an additional charge.
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