CASHING IN ON GROWTH
ADOPTION of cashless payments is poised to accelerate as consumers and businesses get more sophisticated, says Infinitium Group of Companies.
ADOPTION of cashless payments is expected to be more rapid than ever in Malaysia as consumers and businesses get more sophisticated and tech-savvy, said Infinitium Group of Companies.
Founder and group chief executive officer Ho Ching Wee said the digital payment landscape had grown tremendously over the past two decades, in tandem with the rise of digital economy, but it was only the “tip of the iceberg”.
“We are living in the era of mobile and digitisation, where ecommerce happens and thrives.
“The younger generation are more digital-savvy. Therefore, we expect to see increasing adoption of cashless payments in the near future,” he said in an interview.
Ho said the cashless payments made up about 20 per cent of total payments in the country. Although it was still relatively small in proportion, its adoption pace had been no less significant.
Over the years, Bank Negara Malaysia had indicated several initiatives to drive the nation towards a cashless society.
Based on CNBC’s news, a study by Capgemini and BNP Paribas found that global digital payments were expected to reach a record US$726 billion (RM2.9 trillion) by 2020.
The study found that emerging markets were leading the upward trend, and predicted tech innovations, such as connected houses, contactless bank cards, wearable devices and augmented reality, to drive cashless transactions in the future.
Malaysia has also seen high growth in digital economy, where e-payments play an integral part, in line with the rise of ecommerce and higher usage of ewallets and bank cards.
Digital economy is expected to be a key driver of growth with more than 18.2 per cent contribution to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) this year. It is targeted to exceed 20 per cent of GDP before 2020.
When the mobile revolution first started a few years ago, Infinitium was already ahead of the innovation curve to pave the way for new frontiers in e-payment security and authentication.
Recently, Infinitium partnered Raonsecure Co Ltd, a leading South Korean biometric mobile security provider, to adopt the fast identity online-certified biometric authentication platform within its e-payment offerings that are deployed in existing markets, thereby pioneering biometric authentication for secured payments in Malaysia and Asia.
“Biometric authentication presents an additional authentication factor of ‘who you are’, thus allowing financial institutions and users to use biometric profile in multi-factor authentication for faster and secure identity verification processes,” said Ho.
Another innovation that is keeping Infinitium busy is tokenisation, a technology that randomly generates unique onetime codes and encrypts the relevant information to complete a transaction without exposing sensitive user data.
Ho said tokenisation opened the possibility of creating mobile payment platforms that boost convenience without compromising the security aspect for the user.
“Our Tap & Pay and QR Pay functions are based on tokenisation technology,” he added.