Before Samsung Pay was available in Malaysia, Maybank had introduced MaybankPay in 2016 which enables you to make contactless payments with your smartphone. All you need is a phone with NFC and it works with Maybank Visa Debit, Credit and Prepaid card.
According to a notice by Maybank, the MaybankPay service will be discontinued effective 20th July 2020. The app will also be removed from the Google Play Store.
Existing MaybankPay users who are using a Samsung Galaxy smartphone are urged to use Samsung Pay. However, this would only work if your Samsung device has NFC with Samsung Pay support.
For other devices, Maybank recommends that you switch to QR Pay which uses the Maybank2U app. If you’re not a Maybank customer, you can always create a MAE eWallet account.
Maybank was the first bank to introduce NFC-based mobile payments and a few months later, CIMB had introduced CIMB Pay which works with both MasterCard and Visa. Shortly after that, Samsung had started its Samsung Pay beta program in partnership with Maybank.
In early February 2017, Samsung Pay was officially launched in Malaysia and it works other banks including Citi, CIMB and Standard Chartered. Today, Samsung Pay supports more devices and you can enrol cards issued by HongLeong Bank, Public Bank, RHB and HSBC.
In the meantime, there’s still no sign of official Apple Pay or Google Play support in Malaysia. Apart from Samsung Pay, most mobile transactions are currently driven by QR-based eWallets led by Boost, Grab and Touch ‘n Go eWallet.
To promote eWallet adoption, Malaysia has introduced the RM30 eTunai Rakyat program early this year. Coming up next is the RM50 ePenjana initiative which should start sometime this month.
