(From left) Mr Carlos J. Menendez, President Enterprise Partnership, MasterCard; Dato’ Faris Yahaya, Managing Director, Cyberview Sdn Bhd; Tan Sri Dr. Mohd Irwan Serigar, Secretary General of Treasury, Ministry of Finance Malaysia; Mr. Perry Ong, Country Manager for Malaysia and Brunei, MasterCard and Mr. Ashran bin Dato’ Ghazi, Chief Executive Officer, Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) during the Memorandum of Understanding Ceremony at the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona
During the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Cyberview Sdn Bhd, Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC), and Mastercard at the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona, Cyberjaya has strengthened its offerings as a Smart City to go cashless in line with the Malaysian government’s push to reduce cash transactions.
As witnessed by Tan Sri Dr. Mohd. Irwan Serigar Abdullah, Secretary General of Treasury, Ministry of Finance (MOF), this falls in line with the government’s Economic Transformation Programme and Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) vision to transform Malaysia into a cashless society. This integrates Mastercard’s digital payments service Masterpass to make everyday transactions for consumers faster, simpler and more secure.
“Cyberview has spearheaded the continued development of the city under its Smart City and Living Lab initiatives – development pillars designed to increase its operational efficiency, improve the quality of life for the people of Cyberjaya and contribute to growing the local economy. We continue to do this by incorporating technology into every facet of the township through collaboration with our many partners, and this is eminent from our push in transforming Cyberjaya into a cashless city by working hand in hand with MaGIC and Mastercard. The reason why we’re doing this is because we understand that payments are the heart of a city’s economic activity – forming the core of every economic flow including salaries, consumer spending, business procurement, and taxes,” said Dato’ Faris Yahaya, Managing Director of Cyberview Sdn Bhd.
“By embedding digital payments into our core infrastructure and harnessing the data that electronic payments generate, cities can deliver on their promise to create smarter, more welcoming spaces, and empower their citizens to lead greater, more rewarding lives. We will continue to collaboratively work with our numerous ecosystem partners, including MaGIC and Mastercard to enhance the liveability of the city and provide the people of Cyberjaya with everything they will need to improve their lives.” he said.
Ashran Dato’ Ghazi, CEO of MaGIC elaborates that “MaGIC will support the Cyberview Smart City initiative through collaboration with both Cyberview and Mastercard. Through the Corporate Entrepreneurship Responsibility (CER) platform, MaGIC will play a key role to facilitate the partnership between players in the corporate sector like Mastercard and local entrepreneurs to design and build smart city infrastructure, services and solutions in Cyberjaya.”
Perry Ong, Country Manager for Malaysia and Brunei of Mastercard, said “Through the Economic Transformation Program, an electronic payments agenda is embedded through a structural reform known as the Payment Card Reform framework where the payment industry is working together in efforts to broaden market access and to dampen cash transactions. It is imperative that we recognise the great control, transparency and efficiency electronic payments offers to society. Therefore, Mastercard is pivotal in this collaboration by bringing its global expertise and innovation strengths to its banks and merchant partners.”
In relation to the Smart City collaboration, Perry added that Mastercard will be providing the horizontal payment construct across all the vertical clusters including urban mobility, lifestyle, finance, health, supply chain and education among others. This is to ensure an integrated payment ecosystem for an enhanced commerce experience with digital solutions such as Masterpass which enables Malaysians to enjoy simpler, safer and smarter digital payments across any device and channel anywhere – be it online, in app and in-store with contactless.
AllianceDBS Research Sdn Bhd (AllianceDBS Research) in a report earlier this year projected that the ‘cashless’ system in Malaysia will grow by 15%, five-year compounded annual growth rate (CAGR), as Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) pushes for reform in the country’s payment system.
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