24/04/2026

BIZ & FINANCE FRIDAY | APR 24, 2026

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PayNet logs 8.44b digital payment transactions in 2025

KUALA LUMPUR: Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PayNet) processed 8.44 billion digital payment transactions in 2025, reflecting that digital payments are increasingly the preferred payment method across Malaysia, driven by continued adoption by banks, non-bank participants, businesses and consumers. These transactions span everyday usage across retail, transportation, peer-to-peer transfers and small businesses, highlighting how digital payments are integrated into daily life. This growth aligns with Malaysia’s broader digital payments agenda, as outlined by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) in its Financial Sector Blueprint 2022–2026 and reinforced in its 2025 Annual Report – which emphasises in clusive access, safe adoption and the development of a reliable and efficient national payments infrastructure. PayNet CEO Praveen Rajan said the continued growth in digital payments reflects a broader shift in how Malaysians move and manage money in their daily lives. “Digital payments are becoming the preferred payment method across consumers, businesses and public services, enabled by continued innovation and colla boration across banks, non-bank participants, merchants and the government,” he said. He said that as adoption scales, the priority is to ensure the ecosystem remains reliable, secure and accessible at the national level. “PayNet remains committed to supporting the industry by streng

o Growth driven by continued adoption by banks, merchants, consumers and others across Malaysia

UEM Sunrise aims to triple ROE by 2030 via three key measures KUALA LUMPUR: Property Johor remains a key growth driver, with pre-sales expected to double over the next two years. – UEM SUNRISE WEBSITE

As domestic adoption expands, Malaysian businesses are in creasingly able to participate in cross-border payment flows through PayNet’s growing net work of DuitNow QR linkages. A new QR payment linkage with Cambodia was introduced in 2025, complementing existing interoperability with Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and China, with India expected to follow in 2026. This will support inbound spending in line with Visit Malaysia 2026, with growing transaction volumes from China and similar momentum anti cipated as India is enabled. Cross-border QR transactions grew by 2.5 times, reaching 29.7 million in 2025. For businesses, particularly MSMEs, this expands access to a broader regional consumer base beyond domestic demand, enabling more seamless participation in cross-border commerce. This enables Malaysian businesses to reach regional con sumers more efficiently, parti cularly in sectors such as retail, food and beverage, and tourism. These linkages form part of broader regional initiatives, including the Next50 Common Standards Project and Project Nexus, which aim to enable interoperable payment systems across Asean and support trade, tourism and regional economic integration.

thening the infrastructure that underpins this growth,” said Praveen. PayNet’s growth in 2025 was driven by increased participation across the ecosystem as banks and non-bank participants ex panded access for consumers and merchants. Bank transaction volumes grew by 30.69%, and non-bank transactions grew by 71.7%, indi cating a more diversified and inclusive payments ecosystem. This translated into higher transaction volumes, with an additional 6.3 million trans actions per day on average compared with 2024, alongside stronger activity during festive periods such as year-end holidays and major celebrations. This expansion was further supported by wider adoption across businesses and the rakyat. A total of 681,250 new DuitNow QR acceptance points were introduced including 267,780 among micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), bringing the nationwide total to more than three million registered DuitNow QR touchpoints. Adoption also strengthened across non-urban areas. The strongest growth was observed in Terengganu, Kelantan and Kedah, where non-urban transaction volumes tripled year-on-year, indicating sustained uptake across different segments of the population.

The non-Bumiputera lots at Gerbang Nusajaya’s latest commercial launch in early April 2026, with a total of 96 units priced from RM1.6 million to RM2.5 million per unit, were fully taken up. Likewise, the proposed 404-acre Gerbang Nusajaya Industrial Park with an estimated GDV of RM3.6 billion is drawing strong interest from potential investors, CIMB Securities said, adding that the soft launch of the initial phase involving purpose built factories should take place in Q1 of 2027, pending approval of planning permission. “We also expect the group to wrap up the divestment of 29 acres of land in East Ledang for RM144.9 million to a global data centre player by end 2026,“ CIMB Securities said. CIMB Securities maintains its “Buy” rating on UEM Sunrise with a target price of RM0.86. “Apart from providing good leverage to Johor’s property market, we believe UEM Sunrise could be ripe for a re-rating if it progressively delivers on its ROE and other key operational and financial milestones. With a leaner balance sheet (FY25 net gearing at 37% and a 40–60% dividend payout), UEM Sunrise is in a stronger position to acquire NAV accretive property assets, while foreign shareholding stood at 7.4% as at March 31, 2026, the firm said.

developer UEM Sunrise Bhd has outlined three key measures to triple its return on equity (ROE) by 2030 despite the evolving geopolitical situation. CIMB Securities Sdn Bhd hosted an investor meeting for UEM Sunrise’s senior management, which was led by group CEO Shaharul Farez Hassan. A key highlight of the meeting was UEM Sunrise’s target of tripling its ROE by 2030, from about 1% in FY25. To achieve this target, UEM Sunrise has unveiled a three-pronged strategy, namely accelerate property development activities with a refreshed team, grow its property investment assets to RM1.3–1.5 billion from RM0.8 billion as of FY25 through the organic expansion of 500,000–600,000 sq ft of net lettable space, and commercialise its land bank through land divestments or joint developments, such as the 90 acres at Precinct 4, Gerbang Nusajaya. In a report, CIMB Securities said that despite the ongoing Middle East conflict, UEM Sunrise is maintaining its FY26 GDV and new property sales targets at RM2.2 billion and RM1.3 billion, respectively. Further, the research firm said Johor remains a key market for UEM Sunrise, with pre-sales projected to rise to RM1–1.5 billion in FY26/27 from RM500 million in FY25.

Education retains its importance in the Malaysian landscape for parents, students and stakeholders. The changes are fast paced with new developments in new fields of study such as cybersecurity, data protection, augmented and virtual reality, machine learning in education, digital education and artificial Intelligence. Leading the way are universities, who are invited to showcase their latest programmes, curriculum and content in our Education Focus for 2026.

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