Soft Space, PayNet pilot Fasstap

• Businesses can accept MyDebit card payments using only mobile phones
• Can also process payments exceeding the RM250 threshold for contactless or wave payments

SOFT Space Sdn Bhd, in collaboration with MyDebit, Malaysia’s national debit scheme operated by Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PayNet), will pilot Fasstap, a fintech solution that could potentially allow small businesses and sole-proprietors to accept card payments at minimal cost.

Under the Fasstap pilot, businesses may use any supported Android-based smartphones with near-field communication (NFC) technology to accept and process MyDebit payments, instead of relying on traditional card point-of-sale (POS) terminals.

Powered by Soft Space’s own technology, cashiers or store keepers can just launch the Fasstap application on their smartphone, and within a few clicks, easily and safely accept a MyDebit card payment.

Fasstap can also process payments exceeding the RM250 threshold for contactless or wave payments, because Fasstap facilitates secure PIN-entry and authorisation.

“Soft Space has always been synonymous with innovative payment solutions and this pilot is another testament of our ingenuity,” said Soft Space chief executive officer Joel Tay. “While NFC-based mobile payment application isn’t new, utilising the hardware-embedded security technology within the smartphone to enable secure PIN-entry and authorisation is a world’s first.”

“In line with our objective to make cashless payments accessible to all Malaysians, we initiated a pilot to trial MyDebit acceptance through Fasstap because the solution promises to significantly reduce the cost for merchants to accept card payments. Small businesses, including hawkers, street vendors and pasar malam traders will need nothing more than their smartphones to collect debit card payments from their customers, once we are ready to go to a full commercial roll-out,” said PayNet group chief executive officer Peter Schiesser.

“We are excited as MyDebit acceptance via Fasstap has the potential to make cashless payments accessible and affordable to all businesses in Malaysia. This solution will further cement MyDebit as the most cost-effective mode of card payments in Malaysia,” added Schiesser.

Today, MyDebit’s transaction fees for businesses, or more commonly known as merchant discount rates (MDR), averages at 0.56% compared to an average of 1.33% for credit cards.

With Fasstap, the fixed costs associated with POS terminals, which may cost up to RM1,000, will largely disappear for merchants that already have smartphones that can double up to receive card payments.  

Fasstap has the potential to disrupt the payment space as it leverages on the Android-NFC-enabled smartphones that are widely used in the Southeast Asian market, thereby making it highly scalable and efficient for merchants of all sizes.

“Fasstap is unique in that it extends today’s mPOS capabilities to make cashless payments accessible to a wider group of merchants, especially the smaller scale ones in a cost effective and secure way,” said Tay.

“Additionally, this pilot will help us understand the intricacies of the market and help pave the way for Soft Space to roll out similar payment schemes and even support QR Code Mobile Payments regionally by leveraging on our existing client base that consists of 20 financial institutions in 11 countries worldwide.