Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PayNet) and banks must continue to be pressured until the waiver for merchant discount rate (MDR) fees charged through DuitNow QR transactions is made permanent, said MCA president Wee Ka Siong.

Wee, in a Facebook post today, asserted that PayNet and banks will grant MDR waivers to merchants for DuitNow QR payments if they are pressured by stakeholders.

“The profits of the banks are already very high.

“They should continue the waiver for DuitNow QR users, most of whom are small merchants who would receive cash payments if they do not use DuitNow QR.

“So, banks will also benefit from the reduction in cash handling costs if merchants prefer using the DuitNow QR method over cash,” he said, adding that the waiver is also aligned with the government’s digitalisation efforts.

He added that CIMB Bank and Public Bank are the only financial institutions extending the waiver - with CIMB Bank extending it for two more months until Dec 31 this year, while Public Bank will be extending the waiver until further notice.

Wee’s statement came after PayNet today confirmed that a transaction fee will be incurred on vendors for payments received via the DuitNow QR code platform starting Nov 1.

However, PayNet said the MDR fee is neither a new fee nor an additional fee as it was waived in 2019 as an incentive to promote usage during the introduction of QR payments.

“This waiver was further extended due to the outbreak of Covid-19.

“At present, debit and credit card payments incur MDRs whereas there is an MDR waiver on QR payments.

“The MDR waiver was supposed to end over nine months ago,” PayNet said in a statement.

Transaction charges

On Tuesday, MalaysiaNow reported that merchants who accept payments through DuitNow will be subject to transaction charges starting Nov 1.

The news portal also pointed out that in the past, there were no charges imposed for DuitNow QR transactions under RM5,000 while there was a fixed fee of RM0.50 incurred for transactions above RM5,000.

In response, PayNet today said the RM0.50 fee incurred for transactions above RM5,000 is for peer-to-peer fund transfers using personal DuitNow QR codes, not for merchant payments.

“This is completely unrelated to the first mentioned QR payments to a merchant and under no circumstances will both fees be imposed for the same transaction.

“It is inaccurate to state that the RM0.50 charge applies to payments made to merchants. It is also inaccurate to state that MDR costs are charged for funds transfers using personal QR codes.”

As for concerns that MDR costs will be passed on to consumers, PayNet highlighted that purchases using credit and debit cards are already subject to MDR.

“Products and services purchased with credit or debit cards are priced the same as cash purchases.

“Likewise, we do not foresee prices of goods and services to be affected by purchases using DuitNow QR after MDR is imposed,” it stated.