PUTRAJAYA: Malaysians will be able to use their MyDebit ATM cards in Singapore from the third quarter of this year.

This was announced in a joint statement by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong at the ninth leaders' retreat on Tuesday (Apr 9).



Singaporeans have been able to use their NETS ATM cards in Malaysia since last November - marking the first time that NETS ATM cards can be used outside of Singapore - following a partnership between Singapore electronic payment service provider NETS and its Malaysian counterpart PayNet of Malaysia.

There are now more than 3,500 NETS acceptance points throughout Malaysia.

MyDebit, Malaysia’s national debit card scheme, allows consumers to make point-of-sale payments using ATM cards issued by Malaysian banks.



Malaysia’s central bank – Bank Negara – is PayNet’s single largest shareholder, with 11 Malaysian financial institutions as joint shareholders.

In 2014, there were 40.1 million debit cards for the 30.7 million population in Malaysia, according to the central bank’s Financial Stability and Payment Systems Report 2017.

Debit cards accounted for 162.3 million transactions valued at RM29.8 billion (US$7.3 billion) in 2017, the same report noted.

Meanwhile, the joint statement also announced that a cross-border payment Combi Card will be launched for motorists travelling in both countries.

Users will be able to use the dual-currency card to pay for road tolls and parking charges in both countries.