You Won't Have To Pay Any Instant Transfer Fee For Amounts Up To RM5,000 From July 2018
Moving towards a cashless society.
By Sadho Ram — 09 Dec 2017, 02:55 PM
Instant interbank transfers are soon going to be free
Starting 1 July 2018, the Instant Transfer fee of 50 sen for transactions up to RM5,000 made by individuals and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will be waived, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) Governor, Tan Sri Muhammad Ibrahim, said.
The BNM Governor, who was giving a keynote address at the 2017 Payments Forum & Exhibition on Friday, 8 December, said that the fee is being waived off in order to drive the migration to e-payments during the transition period.
With the Instant Transfer fee being waived off, people who do interbank transfers will not only not have to pay any additional charge but will also be able to make the transaction instantly
The same was also noted by the BNM Governor.
"The soaring digital economy will need an e-payment method which is a critical component that could increase productivity and be more cost-efficient."
So from 1 July 2018, you will be saving 53 sen (50 sen Instant Transfer fee + 3 sen GST) for transactions up to RM5,000 per transaction.
However, starting 2 January 2021, the cheque fee will be increased from 50 sen to RM1 because of the high processing cost involved
Cheques are a costly payment option compared to e-payment, as it takes RM4 to process as check whereas it only takes around 30 sen per transaction to process an Interbank GIRO and Instant Transfer.
While the usage of cheques has declined 42% since 2011 from 205 million to 120 million in 2017, the cost of processing those 120 million cheques has been an enormous RM484 million, which, according to BNM Governor Tan Sri Muhammad Ibrahim, is "a sheer wastage to the economy."
Therefore, the cheque fee will be hiked from 50 sen to RM1 from 2 January 2021, and "gradually thereafter to reflect the actual cost of cheque processing".
