Businesses incur an estimated RM2.7 billion 6 annually for cash handling, in addition to bearing the risk of pilferage and theft. Businesses also incur an estimated RM113 million 7 annually for cheque handling. Migrating to electronic  3  Internet banking, mobile banking and ATM. 4  BNM’s Financial Stability and Payment Systems Report 2014. 5  Calculated based on the average monthly transactions of B-PAY (Australia) and the population in Australia. 6  Based on the European Central Bank’s (ECB) study “The social and private costs of retail payment instruments” on 13 European countries, the social cost incurred by retailers for cash handling amounts to 0.269% of GDP. 7  Based on the ECB study, the social cost incurred by businesses for cheque handling amounts to 0.012% of GDP. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  bill payments would lower the cost of transactions and provide businesses with a faster, more secure and more efficient means of collecting payments. Businesses should leverage on JomPAY not only for bill payments, but also for invoice payments to facilitate a more efficient management of their receivables. Consumers, on the other hand, should also take advantage of the increased convenience of making bill payments via this new channel. JomPAY provides a one-stop centre for consumers to make bill payments electronically anytime, anywhere and without any transaction fee. By migrating to electronic bill payments, a lot of time and effort previously incurred by travelling and queuing to make over-the-counter payments can be saved and redirected to more productive use.
Such collaborative industry effort in infrastructure sharing would allow the industry to compete directly on product offerings and the quality of services provided, thus providing better value to both consumers and merchants. In this regard, the recent industry-wide initiatives to enhance the payment card infrastructure and to modernise the online bill payments market via JomPAY are commendable and should be sustained. In this respect, I would also like to call upon MyClear and MEPS to jointly embark on payment infrastructure projects and initiatives that would benefit both the industry and the country. Role of MyClear and the industry moving forward Achieving the critical mass in terms of usage and acceptance remains a key priority. In this regard, banks in collaboration with MyClear should take concerted efforts to expand the number of businesses accepting JomPAY, especially among the underpenetrated sectors of SMEs and the federal and state government agencies. This can be done through coordinated media campaigns, workshops, roadshows and other outreach programs. MyClear and the participating banks should target to register 5,000 merchants onto JomPAY by 2020. To educate the public, especially those who are not IT savvy to use JomPAY, MyClear and the banks should also come up with instructional videos and pamphlets to provide the  BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  necessary guidance and assistance.