This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on June 28, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: RHB Bank Bhd has announced zero fee for instant transfer made by individuals and sole proprietor businesses via RHB Now Online Banking platform.

RHB Bank has made this waiver available since May 18.

RHB Bank said this is in line with Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) efforts to drive cashless payment systems and reduce traditional payment modes. BNM recently announced that effective July 1, the instant transfer fee of 50 sen will be waived for payments of up to RM5,000 per transaction by individuals and small to medium-sized enterprises.

“Through this waiver of instant transfer fees, we are confident that more consumers and sole proprietorship businesses will opt for digital payments, creating an agile and digitally-driven economy in Malaysia. With this in place, we also hope to offer customers more value-added interactions and deliver superior customer experience,” said RHB Bank acting head of group retail banking Nazri Othman in a statement yesterday.

“Over the last two years, we have recorded a 70% increase of instant transfer transactions,” he added.

With more than three million customers and total assets of RM76.3 billion, RHB Bank said group retail banking is the biggest business division and also the largest contributor to the group’s top and bottom lines.

For the financial year ended Dec 31, 2017, group retail banking recorded loan and deposit growth of 9% and 7.6% respectively, outpacing the industry.