AYER Hitam MP Wee Ka Siong has appealed to Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PayNet) not to reimpose a transaction fee for DuitNow QR payments from November 1.

Wee said PayNet should continue the merchant discount rate (MDR) for DuitNow QR users as the waiver would benefit both small merchants and banks.

“Most (DuitNow QR users) are small merchants who would receive cash payments if they did not use DuitNow QR.

“Banks will also benefit from the reduction in cash-handling costs if merchants (prefer) the DuitNow QR method over cash,” the MCA president said in a Facebook post today.

PayNet earlier announced it would lift the MDR, and that vendors would incur a transaction fee for payments received via DuitNow QR.

The MDR on DuitNow QR payments to merchants has been in place since 2019. – September 28, 2023.