One QR to Rule Them All: BNM’s IFTF Makes DuitNow the Single Standard by 2028

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has drawn a line in the sand for the country’s payment rails. Under its Interoperable Fund Transfer Framework (IFTF) — effective July 2026 — proprietary QR payment networks must be phased out by 30 June 2028, leaving the interoperable DuitNow QR as the single national standard.

In plain terms: one QR code, accepted by every Malaysian bank app and e-wallet. The era of “sorry, we only take this wallet here” is on a countdown.

What’s changing

Today, most Malaysians already scan DuitNow QR, the national standard operated by PayNet. But pockets of proprietary, closed-loop QR still exist — codes that only work with one specific app. The IFTF requires those to be wound down, pushing everyone onto a single interoperable rail where any participating bank or wallet can pay any merchant’s QR.

A merchant will need to display just one DuitNow QR code to accept payments from any Malaysian bank app or e-wallet — no more clutter of competing stickers at the counter.

The numbers behind the move

The timing follows explosive growth in digital payments:

• DuitNow QR transactions more than doubled to around 3 billion in 2025, up from 1.5 billion in 2024.
• Nearly 3 million registered DuitNow QR touchpoints nationwide by end-2025.
• Overall e-payment transactions grew 25% to 18.4 billion in 2025.
• The average Malaysian now makes 538 e-payments per capita, up from 409 in 2024 — more than one digital payment a day.

Malaysia is decisively going cash-lite, and BNM wants the plumbing to be open and standardised rather than fragmented.

Tighter security, too

Alongside interoperability, BNM has strengthened AML/CFT requirements for e-money issuers (effective 31 January 2025), including tougher customer due diligence, real-time transaction monitoring, “kill switches” to instantly freeze compromised accounts, 12-hour cooling-off periods for suspicious high-value transactions, and AI-driven eKYC with biometric liveness detection for new sign-ups.

What it means for each side

Shoppers: Mostly invisible good news — your preferred app should “just work” at more places, with fewer rejected payments.

Merchants: If you rely on a closed-loop QR tied to one provider, plan to migrate before the 2028 cutoff. The upside: accept everyone with a single code, free from single-provider lock-in.

E-wallets: This is the real story. Closed-loop QR was a moat that kept users inside one app. With acceptance lock-in gone, players like Touch ‘n Go eWallet — the market leader with over 23 million verified users — will have to compete on rewards, UX and merchant services rather than exclusivity. Expect the loyalty and cashback wars to heat up.

The bottom line

BNM is trading fragmentation for a single, open rail. For consumers and small merchants, it’s simpler and cheaper. For the wallets, the comfortable walls are coming down — and the competition just got real.

New to how Malaysia’s payment system works? Start with our plain-English guides on DuitNow and PayNet & the regulators.