PETALING JAYA: Pertama Digital Bhd, through its subsidiary Dapat Vista (M) Sdn Bhd, is targeting to recirculate up to 18.2 million pieces of unused coins yearly to complement the nation’s shift to a cashless society.
Uncirculated coins have led Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to spend additional funds to mint new coins for circulation into the economy every year. This is an unnecessary and avoidable cost which in turn would affect the balance of coins in circulation and limit the disposable income of the rakyat.
Pertama Digital director of strategy Saiful Akhtar (pix) said it is in a prime position to facilitate and complement BNM on coin recirculation efforts by providing coin conversion services at its MyPay Coin Conversion booths.
“We can attract uncirculated coins from the public and allow them to transfer the value of coins converted directly into their accounts through e-payment services. We are driving further the agenda for electronic payments as well as the cost saving efforts by BNM,“ he said in a statement today.
In addition to the BNM’s effort to recirculate coins through existing coin deposit machines deployed at retail banks, MyPay Coin Conversions is poised to increase the velocity of coins among the Malaysian public in a unique, fast and efficient way.
Pertama Digital estimates an annual cost saving for the country of about RM128 million that can be achieved from recirculating the existing idle coins in public’s possession. Additional data also reveals that an average person would have RM300 worth of coins that are idle and not in use.
Pertama Digital opened its first MyPay Coin Conversion booth in Subang Parade, Subang Jaya. The Subang Parade outlet managed collections totaling RM3.6 million from April 2021 to March 2022 with 18 million pieces of coins of all denominations successfully recirculated.
Its most recent new location, opened for operations this week, is located at Berjaya Times Square in Kuala Lumpur.