CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, which owns Touch’n Go Sdn Bhd (TNGSB), has reported a continuation of healthy volumes for essential services and online-based transactions on the Touch ‘n Go eWallet app during the period of movement control order (MCO).
In contrast, the bank has observed a falling demand for retail transactions across the industry, which is also reflected in the app where offline retail merchants are concerned.
Speaking to The Edge Markets, the group ventures and partnerships chief executive officer of CIMB, Effendy Shahul Hamid said that this trend of cashless payment is likely to persist after the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We believe ‘post-Covid’ user behaviour will be positive for us in general, whereby a greater push for cashless payments is expected in order to reduce physical contact. And as such, we are actively adapting our strategies to ensure we are ready for that,” said Effendy.
Effendy further commented that the market will be a challenging one for the rest of year 2020 where volumes are concerned. However, the bank remains optimistic with regard to the digital payments space as it is nimble enough to pivot and capture relevant opportunities. This is attributed to the solid baseline that the bank has built for its business model.
“We will continue with our plans to enhance features on our platform, with particular focus on in-app journeys, as well as enhancing use cases that include payments, content and digital services. Our plans to introduce financial services also remain on track,” said Effendy, referring to the Touch ‘n Go eWallet app.
CIMB’s latest annual report has claimed that the Touch ‘n Go eWallet is now Malaysia’s largest e-wallet with over 6.8 million registered users and 120,000 merchants by the end of 2019. It is rivalled by two other major e-wallet operators, GrabPay and Boost.