Hong Leong Bank Bhd (HLB) has entered a partnership with payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PayNet) to deliver Malaysia’s first non-urban area to be cashless enabled in Sekinchan, Selangor.
Dubbed ‘Project Cashless Kampung,’ it aims to champion financial inclusion in the small town by ensuring all 24,000 Sekinchan residents have access to full-fledged banking facilities and services and empowering 800 small business owners to digitalise their businesses through the acceptance of cashless and contactless payments.
Speaking on the project, Domenic Fuda, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of HLB highlighted the low rate of adoption towards digital and cashless payment methods in rural areas.
“We also believe that financial inclusion does not simply stop at cashless penetration and adoption. It also involves increasing access to fair banking opportunities as well as financial education for young digital natives to nurture money-and digital-smart future generations so that no one is left behind in this digital economy.”
Kicking off, the company will move towards equipping all 800 businesses with an HLB DuitNow starter kit which includes a DuitNow QR for businesses to accept contactless QR payments from mobile banking apps and eWallets, as well as the All-in-One Payment Terminal that accepts both card and QR payments.
Fuda went on to express HLB’s excitement in empowering the business community across paddy and fruit farming to fisheries and tourism in capturing more opportunities to grow their business by accepting cashless payments, especially now as Malaysian consumers are increasingly preferring cashless and contactless.
“We hope this will help further build Sekinchan’s thriving community and increase its popularity as a tourist destination offering cashless convenience for visitors.”
Adding on, Farhan Ahmad, Group Chief Executive Officer of PayNet added on how ‘Project Cashless Kampung’ is aimed at closing that gap by the adoption of cashless payments via DuitNow QR or with their MyDebit ATM cards. “To optimize impact, we intend to take the key learnings and expand this project to other non-urban areas."