PayNet and Grab jointly announced today that GrabPay has adopted Malaysia’s national QR payments standard, DuitNow QR; making GrabPay the first e-wallet in Malaysia to do so. This news follows Public Bank’s adoption of DuitNow QR earlier this June.

DuitNow QR is established under Bank Negara Malaysia’s Interoperable Credit Transfer Framework (ICTF). ICTF mandates that PayNet, as the country’s shared payment infrastructure provider, implement an interoperable and common QR standard for Malaysia.

According to their release, four Banks are already offering DuitNow QR in their mobile banking apps, with 25 banks expected to implement DuitNow QR over the next 6 months.

Through DuitNow QR, users can make payments from any participating banks or e-wallets. Merchants would only need to display one QR Code, the DuitNow QR, to accept payments.

“At the moment, e-Wallet providers are incurring substantial acquiring costs for merchants since they are each signing up the same set of merchants for their respective proprietary networks. With DuitNow QR, a merchant needs to sign up with only one Bank or e-Wallet acquirer, and customers of all participating Banks and e-Wallets would be able to make DuitNow QR payments to the merchant using their respective mobile apps,”

said Mr Peter Schiesser, Group Chief Executive Officer, PayNet.

“We are honoured to be the first e-Wallet to adopt DuitNow QR. This partnership will propel GrabPay further to provide a seamless and safe payment method for customers and merchants. DuitNow QR’s interoperability simplifies and provides consumers with a frictionless and rewarding payment method, whilst providing our merchants a safe and cost-effective way to collect payments.

said Ooi Huey Tyng, Managing Director of GrabPay Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines.

DuitNow QR is an extension of the DuitNow service launched in December 2018, which allows bank customers to transfer money instantly and securely on a 24/7 basis at Banks’ Internet or mobile banking channels. DuitNow fund transfers can be directed using the recipients’ mobile numbers, MyKad or business registration numbers.