Real-Time Payments Now as Popular as Cash in Southeast Asia as Pandemic Accelerates Digitization of Payments, New ACI Worldwi...
July 06 2021 - 10:00PM
Business Wire
- Three in five (61%) consumers in Southeast Asia select
real-time payments – such as DuitNow (Malaysia), PayNow (Singapore)
and PromptPay (Thailand) – as a preferred way to pay in 2021, equal
to cash (61%)
- Strong consumer demand for real-time payments demonstrates
urgent need for payments modernization across Southeast Asia and
heralds the emergence of a regional cross-border, real-time
payments ecosystem
Real-time payments are now as popular as cash as a payment
method for consumers in Southeast Asia, according to new research
from ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW) and YouGov. Three out of five
consumers (61%) in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore
prefer real-time payments as a favored way to pay in 2021, level
with cash (61%) and higher than other payment categories, including
digital wallets requiring cash or card top-ups (56%) and credit
cards (30%).
This shift towards real-time payments has been dramatically
accelerated by changing payment necessities and preferences caused
by the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost a third (30%) of consumers in
Southeast Asia have reduced usage of traditional payment methods
such as cash, credit cards and debit cards since the onset of
COVID-19. As a result, over half (53%) are now using real-time
payments more frequently than they were prior to the pandemic.
Due to rapid technological change, consumers now expect
mobile-first and real-time experiences — however, payments have
often lagged. The development of real-time payment systems enables
consumers, merchants and financial institutions to pay friends and
customers, settle bills, and transfer money instantaneously. While
cash has always represented an “immediate” mode of payment, the
advent of real-time payment rails brings this concept into the
digital age with faster settlement periods, notifications and
consolidated reporting.
“This fundamental shift in consumer demand and payment
expectations sets forth a challenge for Southeast Asia’s banks,
financial institutions and merchants,” said Leslie Choo, managing
director – Asia, ACI Worldwide. “These organizations can ill-afford
to put their modernization projects on hold, despite the challenges
caused by COVID-19. On the contrary, they can drive growth by
joining the region’s emerging real-time payments ecosystem, which
will improve their ability to innovate and transform while reducing
the cost of infrastructure and operations.”
The ACI Worldwide and YouGov study also reveals how consumers
across Southeast Asia expect the benefits of using real-time
payments in their domestic markets to extend across borders once
they begin to travel internationally again, as well as when they
shop cross border. For future international travel, consumers have
elevated expectations for the transparency, safety and convenience
of their payments when compared to their travel experiences
pre-COVID-19:
- More than half (54%) of consumers in Southeast Asia who have
travelled internationally in the past expect their usage of
real-time payments to increase when they next travel.
- 70 percent say the ability to use their preferred payment
methods while travelling will be more important now. As a result, a
quarter (26%) expect their usage of traditional payment methods
such as cash to reduce when they next travel.
- Three quarters (75%) say payment safety and fraud prevention
are more important now, while more than two thirds (67%) say
transparency of interchange rates is now of greater
importance.
While the number of consumers in Southeast Asia who are making
international eCommerce purchases has increased over the past year,
consumers are looking for further guarantees about payments to
encourage them to do so more in the future:
- Almost a quarter (23%) of consumers are shopping more at
merchants based in other Southeast Asia countries since the start
of the pandemic, while a similar number (22%) are shopping more in
stores outside of Southeast Asia.
- The most popular factors that encourage these shoppers to
purchase products and services more regularly from international
sellers are:
- Reassurance that payment and personal data are safely
transmitted, secured and stored by international sellers (36%)
- Ability to pay with preferred domestic payment method
(25%)
- Having a wider range of payment options than is available at
present (21%)
“A focus on payments modernization is vital for financial
institutions that want to ride the wave of the region’s biggest and
most transformative payments trend — the emergence of a
cross-border, real-time payments ecosystem,” added Choo.
“Unencumbered by legacy payment systems that can impede innovation
in mature markets, countries in Southeast Asia can leverage robust
domestic central payment infrastructures as the foundations for
cross-border real-time payments, which will be a catalyst for
growth and trade in the coming years.”
Find out more about consumer real-time payment preferences,
and about how financial institutions and merchants in Southeast
Asia can become real-time-ready, in the full report: Real-Time Goes
Mainstream
Methodology: The YouGov study was conducted during April 2021 on
a nationally representative basis across Indonesia (2,000
consumers), Thailand (2,000 consumers), Singapore (1,000
consumers), and Malaysia (1,000 consumers).
About ACI Worldwide ACI Worldwide is a global software company
that provides mission-critical real-time payment solutions to
corporations. Customers use our proven, scalable and secure
solutions to process and manage digital payments, enable
omni-commerce payments, present and process bill payments, and
manage fraud and risk. We combine our global footprint with local
presence to drive the real-time digital transformation of payments
and commerce.
© Copyright ACI Worldwide, Inc. 2021 ACI, ACI Worldwide, ACI
Payments, Inc., ACI Pay, Speedpay and all ACI product/solution
names are trademarks or registered trademarks of ACI Worldwide,
Inc., or one of its subsidiaries, in the United States, other
countries or both. Other parties’ trademarks referenced are the
property of their respective owners.
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Dan Ring dan.ring@aciworldwide.com +1 781-370-3600
Christopher Taine Christopher.taine@aciworldwide.com +49
8945230128
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