Malaysians conducted more than one million Visa payWave contactless transactions in November 2016 as the number of transactions grew more than 10 times compared to one year ago.

There are currently more than 15 issuers who have issued Visa payWave cards in Malaysia. To date, there are close to half a million Visa payWave cards actively being used in Malaysia and transaction volume is experiencing strong double digit month-on-month growth. Supermarkets are the leading retail category for contactless payments, where contactless transactions make up more than half of Visa’s total transactions, followed by department stores and restaurants. The average Visa payWave transaction size in supermarkets is RM84.

Based on the Visa Consumer Payment Attitudes Study 2015, 72 per cent of Malaysians are aware of contactless payments and the top three reasons why Malaysians prefer using contactless payments are because of faster transaction times, they don’t have to carry cash, and ease of use.

Currently, Visa payWave is accepted at AEON, AEON Big, Giant, Tesco, McDonald’s, Jaya Grocer, Village Grocer, Sogo, TGV Cinemas, GSC, Isetan, Mydin, Krispy Kreme, Chatime, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and more will be rolled out next year.

Visa payWave is Visa’s contactless payment technology based on EMV chip. Cardholders can just wave their payment cards against the contactless reader and within a few seconds, payment is completed – there is no need to sign or PIN for purchases under the predetermined transaction limit of RM250.