Quick Answer: PayEx has increased transaction fees for Malaysian merchants in 2026, raising costs across FPX, card, and e-wallet payment methods. HitPay offers a transparent, no-monthly-fee alternative for Malaysian SMBs — supporting DuitNow QR, FPX, Touch ‘n Go, GrabPay, ShopeePay, Boost, and Visa/Mastercard, with T+2 calendar day payouts in MYR and approval in 1–3 business days.

Payment gateway fees rarely stay static. In 2026, Malaysian SMBs using PayEx have received notice of revised pricing across key payment methods — including FPX (Financial Process Exchange) bank transfers, card transactions, and select e-wallet integrations. For a café in Bangsar or a boutique in Petaling Jaya processing thousands of ringgit weekly, even a fraction of a percent increase compounds fast.

Understanding what drives these changes — and what alternatives exist — is essential for any merchant managing margins in 2026.

Why Are Payment Gateway Fees Rising in Malaysia?

Payment processing in Malaysia operates under the oversight of Bank Negara Malaysia, which sets interbank and payment infrastructure guidelines. Gateway providers price above the underlying interchange and network costs, and any upstream adjustments — from card schemes, interbank networks, or e-wallet operators — flow through to merchants.

Several factors are pushing fees upward:

• Card scheme fee reviews by Visa and Mastercard

• Increased compliance and anti-fraud infrastructure costs

• E-wallet operators renegotiating platform revenue-sharing terms

• Providers consolidating their merchant base toward higher-volume accounts

For SMBs, the practical result is fewer predictable costs and more line items to audit.

What Did PayEx Change — and What Does It Cost?

PayEx’s 2026 fee revision affects Malaysian merchants primarily across three payment types:

1. FPX transactions — per-transaction fees have increased, with a revised minimum charge applied to low-value transactions.

2. Card payments — processing rates have been adjusted upward for Visa and Mastercard consumer transactions.

3. E-wallet acceptance — fees for Touch ‘n Go, GrabPay, and ShopeePay have been restructured, with some merchants reporting loss of previous promotional rates.

Beyond the rate changes, PayEx charges monthly platform and maintenance fees regardless of transaction volume. A merchant with seasonal revenue — an F&B stall in Bukit Bintang that peaks during festivals and slows mid-year — pays these fixed costs even in low-volume months.

This fee architecture increases break-even pressure for SMBs and complicates cash flow forecasting.

How to Read a Payment Gateway Fee Structure

Before switching or negotiating, merchants should audit their current gateway costs using this framework:

1. List every fee category — setup, monthly, per-transaction, minimum monthly, chargeback, refund, and FX fees.

2. Calculate effective rate — divide total gateway costs last month by total payment volume processed.

3. Segment by payment method — FPX costs differ from card costs; blending them hides where margins are lost.

4. Account for payout timing — a gateway that settles T+3 versus next business day ties up working capital. A Johor Bahru retailer settling on T+3 carries three days of float that affects supplier payments.

5. Check for volume tiers — some providers offer lower rates above certain thresholds, but only if merchants actively request repricing.

For a deeper look at how lower transaction fees can be passed to customers, HitPay’s fee pass-through feature is one approach Malaysian merchants use to offset gateway costs without absorbing them entirely.

How Does HitPay Compare for Malaysian Merchants?

HitPay is a Singapore-headquartered, MAS-licensed payment gateway (PS20200643) operating across Malaysia. The pricing model is per-transaction only — no setup fees, no monthly fees, and no minimum charges.

For Malaysian merchants, HitPay supports:

• DuitNow QR — real-time QR payments via all major Malaysian banking apps

• FPX — direct bank transfers from Maybank, CIMB, Public Bank, and others

• Touch ‘n Go, GrabPay, ShopeePay, Boost — major local e-wallets

• Visa and Mastercard — for card-present and card-not-present transactions (see hitpayapp.com/pricing for current card rates)

• Atome, Grab PayLater, SPayLater — buy now, pay later (BNPL) at checkout

• Cross-border wallets — Alipay, WeChat Pay for tourist and international customer acceptance; PayNow (Singapore customers), QRIS (Indonesian customers), PromptPay and TrueMoney (Thai customers)

Domestic transactions settle in T+2 calendar days in MYR. Cross-border payments settle T+2. Sign-up is free; approval typically takes 1–3 business days.

Merchants looking to compare the full Malaysian gateway market can review the Malaysia payment gateway comparison covering iPay88, eGHL, SenangPay, HitPay, and Razer for a structured side-by-side.

Gateway Comparison: PayEx vs HitPay for Malaysian SMBs

HitPay — Best for: Malaysian SMBs that want zero monthly fees, 50+ payment methods including all major local e-wallets, BNPL, and cross-border acceptance, with T+2 calendar day MYR payouts.

PayEx — Best for: Established merchants with existing PayEx integrations and high-volume card processing agreements that have already negotiated custom rates.

For merchants evaluating enterprise-grade alternatives, Airwallex covers alternative payment methods for global businesses — though its subscription pricing model (from SGD 79/month for the Grow plan) adds fixed costs that most Malaysian SMBs prefer to avoid.

Similarly, Xendit serves enterprise and platform segments in Southeast Asia but is primarily optimised for Indonesia and the Philippines, making it a less direct fit for Malaysia-first SMBs that need strong local FPX and DuitNow QR coverage.

What Should Malaysian Merchants Do Now?

1. Request a fee schedule in writing from the current gateway — all fees, not just the headline rate.

2. Calculate effective rate for the past 90 days using actual gateway invoices.

3. Test alternatives on a secondary sales channel before full migration — payment links or a single e-commerce plugin are low-risk starting points.

4. Check payout timing — next business day settlement versus T+3 is a cash flow difference that compounds over a year of trading.

5. Confirm local method coverage — any gateway used in Malaysia should support DuitNow QR and FPX as standard, not optional add-ons.

For merchants using e-commerce platforms, the popular payment methods guide for Malaysian small businesses outlines which methods drive the most conversions and why covering the full local stack matters for checkout completion rates.

Frequently Asked Questions