Malaysia Tip: Use DBS PayLah! for Cashless Payments
- Rick
- Nov 3
- 3 min read
Most people will not think of using cashless payment when travelling overseas because most payment methods are tied to local banks, except international credit / debit cards. The traditional way will be to carry sufficient cash for the trip — but either more than enough to prevent running out of cash, or borrow (from bank) after overspending. The downside of carrying too much cash is the uneasiness and risk of losing the money. And the downside of borrowing from banks are high interest rates and transaction fees.
In Malaysia, the most common cashless payment methods, aside from credit / debit cards, are scan-and-pay via:
Touch-&-Go (TNG) eWallet
DuitNow
Bank-specific methods (Maybank’s QRPay, CIMB's Clicks / OCTO, etc)
For foreigners visiting Malaysia, Touch-&-Go requires identity verification and topping-up of its e-wallet by means of card reloads using PINs (cash only), from designated convenience stores and petrol kiosks. From May 2025, top-ups using foreign-issued credit / debit cards are enabled, which makes the app easier to use for frequent travellers to Malaysia.
A piece of good news for DBS Bank (Singapore) customers travelling to Malaysia on short trips, is that DBS PayLah! can be used to make payments at retail outlets in Malaysia using the DuitNow QR (pronounced as "do it now"). This can reduce the amount of cash that needs to be carried around when travelling in Malaysia.
Besides DBS PayLah!, most payment apps by other Singapore banks (OCBC, UOB, etc) are able to scan-and-pay via the DuitNow QR too.
The payment process is the same as in Singapore.
Make sure you have setup your PayLah! account,
Launch your PayLah! app,
Scan the DuitNow QR with the app,
Enter the amount to pay in Malaysian ringgit,
When paying overseas, PayLah! will do a conversion of the ringgit amount to SGD before you pay,
Tap "Let's Go" to proceed with payment.
Note: The DuitNow QR must be a static merchant code, which is usually pre-printed and displayed at the cashier. QR code that is generated on a merchant’s Point-Of-Sale (POS) device with the payment amount is probably a transaction code and is not recognised by PayLah!
How about the exchange rate? It may be poorer as compared to the exchange rate of money changers. But the difference can be considered insignificant — regardless of which payment methods to use (cash, credit / debit cards or payment apps), there is always a "service fee" to pay.
Example:
On 11 April 2024, the exchanged rate used by PayLah! is 3.405 while the average rate offered by money changers is around 3.47. For every RM100 transacted in Malaysia, the amount lost to exchange conversion is about S$0.55 for every S$29.37 paid from PayLah!. In other words, it’s just S$0.55 additional cost per RM100 spent — on that day. Exchange rate fluctuates.
You can regard this as a small convenience fee for skipping money changers and not carrying too much cash around.
As comparison, a cash withdrawal from overseas ATMs using POSB card via Cirrus / Maestro will incur a S$7 service charge per withdrawal, regardless of amount, plus any transaction fees or taxes charged by local banks or government services. Using Paylah! is cheaper.
If a merchant supports China UnionPay with QR code-enabled, instead of DuitNow QR, DBS Paylah! can also be used. Launch the app to scan UnionPay's QR code to pay or select the "SG & Others" region to generate a QR code and let the merchant scans it. There are no transaction fees and exchange rate is determined by DBS Bank.
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