extent still is, a misperception that the use of cash is costless and seamless. this issue was especially true for malaysian businesses as more than three - quarters of the almost one million small and mediumsized enterprises, the backbone of malaysia's economy, are micro enterprises who are particularly sensitive to changes in cost. to address this, a series of policy packages were then deployed to reduce any cost barriers and elevate the value proposition of digital payment services. of note, interchange fee regulations were introduced for payment cards to ensure the cost of merchants accepting debit, credit and prepaid cards remained fair, transparent, and reasonable. an industry fund was also established to incentivize the deployment of point of sale or pos terminals, including by subsidizing the cost for hardware. the bank also introduced a framework to ensure that the cost of credit transfer services was kept lower than for cheques to better reflect the efficiency gains derived from such services. as a result, significant progress has been achieved by the industry in reducing cheque usage where the number of cheques issued in 2022 represents only a third of its usage in a decade ago. fostering a greater inclusive and more vibrant payment ecosystem managing the cost efficiency of payment systems remains just one of the intricacies in payment system development. importantly, apart from access to payment services at low and reasonable cost, the payment system must evolve to provide consumers with the choices they need and one that can empower consumers to have better control over their financial well - being regardless of their circumstances. amid the high mobile penetration rate in malaysia, the nation has benefitted from the entry of new non - bank players, attune to and providing the choices that consumers are demanding. the surges of interest by these players to provide e - wallet services resulted in a proliferation of qr codes on shop counters and applications on our mobile screens. while this development demonstrated a significant potential in the growth of mobile payments, it warrants the bank to step in to manage the increasingly fragmented landscape. the bank issued the interoperable credit transfer framework ( ictf ) in 2019 that enabled the interoperability of credit transfer services between banks and non - bank emoney issuers. this deliberate approach facilitated much more collaborative competition, or co - opetition, through fair and open access to the shared infrastructure that is the real - time retail payments platform, or rpp. in a market where multiple e - wallet providers exist, rpp

norhana endut : steering malaysia's payment services - a reflection, evaluation, and exploration keynote address by ms norhana endut, assistant governor of the central bank of malaysia ( bank negara malaysia ), at apsca's conference " next generation payments : consumer and merchant payments, today and tomorrow ", kuala lumpur, 18 october 2023. * * * distinguished speakers and delegates, a good morning to all. i would like to thank apsca for the invitation to deliver the keynote address at this year's next generation payments conference. let me start by congratulating apsca for organising this event and to share that we are pleased for kuala lumpur to host this event. with the theme of " next generation payments : consumer and merchant payments, today and tomorrow ", this event is certainly timely and critical as it brings together traditional players and disruptors within the payments ecosystem for deep conversations and discourse which will chart the way forward for the industry. in envisioning the future of payments in this highly evolving ecosystem, let's ask ourselves what may seem like a simple question – " what does success in innovations look like? ". to answer this question, it's important to look back and reflect our payment journey thus far. the merits of looking backward are the lessons and reflections that we can draw upon to chart the path forward. i would, therefore, like to take the opportunity today to share some insights and lessons from malaysia's journey in developing the domestic electronic payments landscape – to reflect on how far we have come, to evaluate where we are at, and to explore what lies ahead. being an economist, i am very much accustomed to the economic trilemma of managing the policy trade - offs between monetary independence, financial openness, and exchange rate stability. when i stepped into the world of payments, i soon realised that we face a similar trilemma – one which forces regulators and policymakers to balance the trade - offs in pursuing key fundamental objectives of efficiency, inclusivity, and security. enabling a more efficient and cost - effective environment in our early transition to e - payments, where cash and cheques were still in abundance, we observed that users and merchants were not incentivised to adopt e - payments. 1 / 6 bis - central bankers'speeches challenges stemmed largely from managing public perception on the ease and inexpensive use of cash as well as the need to drive change in customer behaviour. often the case, there was and to some