Putting off charge for DuitNow QR payments, call for waiver for DuitNow QR payments permanent

 

New rules: PayNet said debit and credit card payments were subjected to MDR, while there is currently a MDR waiver for QR payments. — SHAARI CHEMAT/The Star© Provided by The Star Online

PETALING JAYA: Several financial institutions, including Public Bank and CIMB, have announced a waiver of the merchant discount rate (MDR) for vendors accepting payments via the DuitNow QR code platform.

CIMB has decided to postpone the MDR until the end of the year, while Public Bank will maintain the waiver until further notice. 

Public Bank has communicated on its website that it would waive the following fees for QR payment acceptance, effective from Oct 1 until further notice.

It said merchants would enjoy fee waivers for categories such as payment acceptance via Current and Savings Accounts, ewallets, and Maintenance Fee and API Integration Fee under the bank’s Enterprise Plan.

Credit card transactions under the Enterprise Plan will incur a charge of 0.25%.

The DuitNow QR service enables money transfers between banks and non-bank entities by scanning QR codes.

Related video: DuitNow QR charges won’t burden low income groups, says PM (Dailymotion)

 

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It was established by Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PayNet) under Bank Negara’s Interoperable Credit Transfer Framework.

Earlier yesterday, Paynet confirmed that vendors would be charged a transaction fee for payments received via the DuitNow QR code platform starting Nov 1.

It said there were charges for two different epayment types – the MDR and the 50sen fee for transactions exceeding RM5,000 for peer-to-peer fund transfers between personal QR codes, not payments to merchants.

ALSO READ: Charge on DuitNow QR payments will burden SME sector, says group

Merchants, it said, would receive the payment made by their customers after deducting the MDR, which is charged based on a percentage of the transaction value.

PayNet said debit and credit card payments were subjected to MDR, while there is currently a MDR waiver for QR payments.

Starting Nov 1, the MDR waiver for DuitNow QR payments would be lifted, it said in a statement, adding that the MDR was neither a new fee nor an additional charge.

“As an incentive to promote usage during the introduction of QR payments in 2019, the MDR was waived. This was extended due to the Covid-19 pandemic.”

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