The latest mode of electronic payments channel is the mobile banking services that provide convenience to consumers to access a range of payment services such as funds transfers, bill payments and credit card services through mobile phones. In addition, the establishment of an Internet-based multi-bank payment system in Malaysia, the Financial Process Exchange in October 2004, would facilitate online payments for a variety of payments by providing convenience and an efficient channel for businesses and consumers to undertake their payment transactions through the internet. 2  BIS Review 84/2005  While these positive developments will support the attainment of the objective of migration to epayments, the commercial issues between the consumers and the service providers have often times inhibited growth in the volume of the e-payments. The business and pricing models have at times inadvertently promoted a less efficient system, such as in the case of the low price that customers pay for using cheques compared to the Inter-Bank GIRO payments, and the popularity of the credit card against debit card, which is a more efficient system that carries less risk. In addition, service providers have also had difficulties in agreeing on a common business platform, due to their own competitive positioning strategies. Such differences have contributed to containing the increased acceptance of epayments, which is further reinforced by the consumers'need to see a wide spread acceptance by merchants before deciding to use the e-payment mode, while the merchant needs to see a critical mass of consumers before putting in place the required infrastructure.

In this regard, a comprehensive review of the industry-wide related issues involving payment instruments and systems needs to be undertaken to make Malaysia more competitive, with a view to promoting the more efficient payment systems and addressing the commercial hurdles. In order to further improve the growth and promote the e-payments, the payments industry may wish to consider establishing a Payment System Association to deal with the industry-wide issues involving electronic payments. A Payment System Association would be able to address the lack of common technology standards between service providers to promote interoperability, and the lack of a collective forum to identify, understand and manage the spectrum of stakeholders' interests and expectations. I should add that this idea is not new, as payment associations are already in existence in several other countries. Ladies and Gentlemen The future landscape of the payment industry is one that will continuously evolve with market innovations, resulting in enhanced services that offer improvement in efficiency and cost savings compared to traditional payment methods. Bank Negara Malaysia will continue to play the role of a facilitator to spearhead the development and improvement of the payments system infrastructure and to promote a conducive enabling environment for such developments to take place. In this respect, Bank Negara Malaysia has taken several initiatives to promote greater use of electronic payments by the public sector and in bringing about a mindset change amongst the users.