KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 20): Digital payments are becoming the preferred payment method in Malaysia, with 70% of consumers preferring to visit merchant sites that accept digital payments compared to those that only accept cash, according to the Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Study 2018.

In a statement today, Visa Inc said among the merchant categories that consumers expect higher usage of digital payments are large shopping malls (65%), supermarkets (60%) and bill payments (57%).

"Over half of the respondents expect their use of digital payments to increase over the next year," it said.

Visa said the respondents believe the digital payments are convenient, hassle free and accepted widely.

They also believe that going cashless offers better payment security and allow them to track their expenditure better, it said.

However, for small transactions, the respondents still prefer paying with cash.

Visa country manager for Malaysia Ng Kong Boon said the financial services corporation sees a similar trend based on its VisaNet data, where the total value of consumer spending on Visa and number of transactions have shown double-digit percentage increase year-on-year.

"There are, however, continued opportunities for growth as cash still accounts for more than 60% of consumer spending in Malaysia," he said.

Ng said Visa has been focusing its efforts on expanding merchant contactless acceptance in Malaysia, adding that the nation is now one of the fastest growing countries in Asia Pacific in terms of contactless payment usage.

"To date, we have enabled contactless payments acceptance in major merchant categories such as petrol stations, supermarkets, quick service restaurants and laundromats.

"We are confident that our goal of becoming a cashless nation is moving a step closer because merchants and consumers appreciate the frictionless payments experience brought about by digital payments," he said.