Quick Answer: Malaysian merchants can accept MAE and Maybank QRPay payments by enabling DuitNow QR — Malaysia's national QR payment standard that all major banks and e-wallets, including Maybank's MAE app, are built on. HitPay supports DuitNow QR for both online and in-person transactions, with instant activation for all business-verified Malaysian merchants and T+2 Calendar Day settlement to HitPay Balance for domestic transactions.

Malaysia's e-wallet and QR payment adoption has accelerated steadily, with Statista Malaysia e-commerce data showing digital payment penetration growing across both online and offline retail channels. For merchants in Bangsar, Bukit Bintang, or Johor Bahru, a customer reaching for their phone to pay is now as common as reaching for a card.

Two payment methods come up repeatedly at checkout: MAE (Maybank's standalone e-wallet and digital banking app) and Maybank QRPay (the QR payment feature embedded in the Maybank2u app). Both are issued by Maybank, Malaysia's largest bank. Both let customers scan a QR code to pay directly from their Maybank account or MAE wallet balance.

For merchants, the practical question is straightforward: how do these payments actually reach a business account, and what does a merchant need to set up to accept them?

What Are MAE and Maybank QRPay — and How Are They Related?

MAE is Maybank's standalone digital wallet app, allowing users to store funds, transfer money, and pay at merchants without needing a full Maybank current or savings account. Maybank QRPay is the QR-based payment feature within the Maybank2u app, enabling existing Maybank account holders to pay merchants by scanning a QR code. Note that as of July 2025, Maybank QRPay has been rebranded to "Scan & Pay" and is accessible primarily within the MAE app, though it remains available within Maybank2u as well.

Both products use DuitNow QR as the underlying payment rail. Bank Negara Malaysia mandates DuitNow QR as Malaysia's national interoperable QR standard, which means a single DuitNow QR code at a merchant's counter can be scanned by MAE, Maybank QRPay, Touch 'n Go eWallet, Boost, GrabPay, and virtually every Malaysian bank's mobile app — without the merchant needing a separate QR code for each.

This interoperability is the key operational insight: merchants do not need a Maybank-specific merchant agreement to accept MAE or Maybank QRPay. Accepting DuitNow QR is sufficient.

How Does DuitNow QR Work at the Point of Sale?

The payment flow for a customer using MAE or Maybank QRPay at a DuitNow QR-enabled merchant is as follows:

1. The merchant displays a DuitNow QR code — either a static printed code or a dynamic QR generated per transaction.

2. The customer opens their MAE or Maybank2u app and selects the Scan & Pay option.

3. The customer scans the merchant's QR code.

4. The payment amount is confirmed on the customer's screen.

5. The customer authorises the payment via PIN, fingerprint, or face ID.

6. The merchant receives a real-time notification of the successful transaction.

For high-volume merchants such as a kopitiam in Petaling Jaya or a fashion retailer in KLCC, dynamic QR codes generated per transaction are the better operational choice — they pre-populate the exact payment amount, reducing the risk of customer entry errors and speeding up queue times.

For lower-volume setups such as a weekend pop-up or market stall, a printed static QR code placed on the counter works equally well. The customer enters the amount manually before confirming.

HitPay's in-person QR code payments guide covers how static and dynamic QR codes function in practice for Malaysian retail and F&B merchants.

How Do Merchants Get Set Up to Accept DuitNow QR (and MAE / Maybank QRPay)?

HitPay supports DuitNow QR for Malaysian merchants across both online and in-person channels.

To start accepting DuitNow QR payments through HitPay:

1. Sign up for a HitPay business account at hitpayapp.com — free, no setup fee, no monthly fee.

2. Submit business verification documents. Approval typically takes 1–3 business days.

3. Once verified, DuitNow QR is auto-enabled — no additional form submission or activation step required.

4. Display the HitPay-generated QR code at checkout (static) or generate a per-transaction dynamic QR via the POS app or payment link.

5. Customers using MAE, Maybank QRPay (now Scan & Pay in the MAE and Maybank2u apps), Touch 'n Go, GrabPay, Boost, or any DuitNow-linked bank app can scan and pay immediately.

Transaction fees are 1.2% for both online and in-person DuitNow QR payments. For the full current rate schedule, see hitpayapp.com/pricing.

Domestic e-wallet and QR transactions settle T+2 Calendar Days to the merchant's HitPay Balance. For merchants managing cash flow carefully — particularly those reconciling against daily supplier payments or payroll — this payout timeline is a meaningful operational advantage over platforms that settle on a weekly cycle.

What Other Payment Methods Should Malaysian Merchants Accept Alongside DuitNow QR?

MAE and Maybank QRPay users represent a significant portion of Malaysia's banked population — Maybank is the country's largest bank by assets. However, limiting checkout to DuitNow QR alone will turn away customers whose preferred method is Touch 'n Go eWallet, GrabPay, Boost, ShopeePay, FPX bank transfer, or card.

A practical payment method mix for a Malaysian SMB in 2025–2026 should cover:

For merchants in tourist-heavy areas such as Bukit Bintang or KLCC, cross-border QR methods matter operationally. HitPay supports Alipay+ and WeChat Pay for Malaysian merchants, allowing Chinese visitors to pay with their home-country apps. Malaysian merchants can also accept PayNow (Singapore), QRIS (Indonesia), PromptPay (Thailand), and QR Ph (Philippines) from cross-border customers via HitPay Borderless QR — with payouts in MYR at T+2 for cross-border transactions.

The DuitNow QR acceptance guide for Malaysian businesses covers the full range of interoperable methods and what each covers.

How Does HitPay Handle Reconciliation for Multi-Method QR Payments?

One operational challenge for merchants accepting 8–10 payment methods is reconciliation — matching settlements from multiple sources against daily sales records. This becomes particularly complex when DuitNow QR, Touch 'n Go, GrabPay, and card settlements arrive on different timelines.

HitPay consolidates all payment method settlements into a single dashboard with unified payout reporting. Merchants can view every charge, see which payout it belongs to, and export transaction data for accounting — without switching between separate portals for each payment method.

For businesses comparing payment gateway options in Malaysia, HitPay's comparison of Stripe alternatives for Malaysian businesses outlines how multi-method acceptance and local payout structures differ across platforms available in the market.

HitPay's fee model has no monthly fee and no setup fee. Merchants pay per transaction only. For a Bangsar café processing RM 30,000 in monthly QR payments, this structure avoids the fixed overhead cost that subscription-based gateways impose regardless of volume.

Frequently Asked Questions