KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 19): United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Bhd (UOB Malaysia) has launched a cash rebate campaign to encourage customers to go contactless.

The campaign, directed at all new customers who open a savings or current account with UOB Malaysia from now until Jan 15, 2019, offers a RM50 rebate when they use their UOB debit cards to top up their WeChat Pay MY E-wallet for the first time.

"To be eligible, new customers will have to credit in RM5,000 within a month of their account opening, maintain a minimum average monthly deposit balance of the same amount and top up at least RM50 into their WeChat Pay MY E-wallet," UOB Malaysia said in a statement.

According to UOB Malaysia data, contactless payments have grown by 113% in the past 12 months, as customers choose contactless payment methods such as wave-and-pay over traditional chip and pin payments.

"Customers also made three times more wave-and-pay transactions in 2017, than they did the year before," it added.

Mobile payments are also on the rise, with payments made on UOB Mighty Pay growing at an average rate of 26% a month since November 2017. UOB Mighty Pay is the payment feature within the bank's all-in-one mobile banking app that facilitates contactless payments at merchants' point-of-sale terminals.

UOB Malaysia managing director and country head of personal financial services Ronnie Lim said the bank supports Malaysia's initiative to promote a cashless economy and is committed to supporting its customers' preference for contactless payments.

"WeChat Pay is a major mobile service payment provider in China and as a new entrant to Malaysia, we anticipate growing demand for its services. With this promotion, we aim to offer our customers greater value and a wider choice of e-payment service providers," Lim added.