Summary
RHB's launch of RHB PAY — Malaysia's first bank-owned unified online payment gateway — marks a direct entry by a major bank into a segment traditionally served by third-party payment gateway providers. By building the gateway internally and routing collections directly into RHB accounts, the bank strengthens merchant relationships, gains a direct revenue stream, and offers integrated reconciliation and settlement in a rapidly growing digital payments market.
Key Points
- The launch: RHB Banking Group launched RHB PAY, Malaysia's first bank-owned unified online payment gateway, designed to let businesses collect digital payments directly into their RHB accounts. It is an internally built platform combining bank-grade security, automated reconciliation and faster fund settlement.
- The target market: The platform targets mid-sized enterprises, corporates and government-linked institutions.
- The integrations: At launch, RHB PAY integrates card payments, FPX and DuitNow Pay via PayNet's national infrastructure. A second phase, scheduled for Q4 2026, will introduce e-wallets, QR payments, Direct Debit and Auto Debit options.
- The market growth: The rollout comes as digital transactions in Malaysia reached 18.4 billion in 2025, up 25% from 14.7 billion in 2024, according to Bank Negara Malaysia data.
- The strategic significance: As Malaysia's first bank-owned unified online payment gateway, RHB PAY represents a direct challenge to independent payment gateway providers. By building internally and routing collections directly into RHB accounts, the bank strengthens its relationship with merchants, gains a direct revenue stream from payment processing, and offers integrated reconciliation and settlement alongside the national DuitNow/PayNet rails.
- The Southeast Asia context: The launch reflects the rapid growth of Southeast Asia's digital payments market and the competitive pressure on banks to offer comprehensive payment infrastructure. It also parallels broader regional developments — from MariBank's digital banking expansion across Singapore and the Philippines, to ShopBack extending rewards into payments, to national real-time payment rails (DuitNow in Malaysia, PayNow in Singapore, QRIS in Indonesia).
- The broader trend: The move signals that banks are increasingly competing directly with independent payment gateways and payment service providers in Southeast Asia — building in-house payment infrastructure rather than relying solely on third-party providers. For the fintech sector, this blurs the line between banks and payment service providers, with banks leveraging their balance-sheet trust and account relationships to capture payment flows.