Malaysia Payment Systems Explained: DuitNow, IBG & RENTAS+

Malaysia's payment infrastructure got a genuine architectural upgrade in October 2025: RENTAS, the country's real-time gross settlement system, became the first RTGS system in ASEAN to run continuously, 24/7, rather than settling in scheduled cycles. That's a meaningful shift for anyone moving MYR at scale — but it doesn't collapse Malaysia's three-rail structure into one. Real-time retail, batch bulk transfers, and large-value settlement are still distinct systems, now just faster and safer at the edges where they connect.

The short version

Malaysia's payment infrastructure is operated by Payments Network Malaysia (PayNet) — majority-owned by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) — under BNM's regulatory oversight, split across three systems:

• DuitNow — Malaysia's real-time retail payment rail, covering P2P transfers, QR payments, and e-commerce.
• Interbank GIRO (IBG) — a batch credit-transfer service for bulk, non-urgent payments like payroll and supplier disbursements.
• RENTAS / RENTAS+ — BNM's real-time gross settlement system, Malaysia's only large-value payment system, now enhanced to settle continuously 24/7.

DuitNow — real-time retail, now settled with RENTAS+ underneath it

DuitNow lets users transfer ringgit instantly using a mobile number, NRIC, passport number, or Business Registration Number instead of full account details, and underpins DuitNow QR — Malaysia's interoperable merchant QR standard. Funds arrive immediately, 24 hours a day, including weekends and public holidays.

Until October 2025, DuitNow's interbank obligations were settled by RENTAS on a twice-daily deferred net basis — a structural gap between "instant for the customer" and "settled between banks," which carried some credit and settlement risk. With the RENTAS+ upgrade, DuitNow transactions (fund transfers, QR payments, e-commerce payments) are now transmitted to RENTAS+ and settled on a gross basis immediately after each transaction completes — closing that gap almost entirely.

• Settlement type: Real-time to the end user; now settled individually and immediately at the interbank layer via RENTAS+
• Speed: Instant, 24/7/365
• Value tier: Retail to substantial mid-value — most banks allow business accounts to send up to RM10,000,000 per transaction via DuitNow, making it usable for far more than everyday P2P transfers
• What it's used for: P2P transfers, QR merchant payments, ad-hoc supplier payments, customer refunds, contractor settlements

Interbank GIRO (IBG) — the batch rail for bulk, non-urgent payments

IBG is PayNet's electronic batch credit-transfer service, built specifically for high-volume, non-urgent payment runs: payroll, supplier disbursements, and mass refunds. Because IBG relies on scheduled batch processing rather than instant clearing, timing depends on when a transfer is submitted:

• Settlement type: Batch, processed in scheduled cycles
• Speed: Transfers submitted before roughly 5:00pm on a business day are typically credited the same day; later submissions, weekends, and public holidays roll to the next business day
• Value tier: No special cap tied to the rail itself — used regardless of amount when the recurring, high-volume nature of the payment run outweighs the need for instant settlement
• What it's used for: Payroll, recurring bulk supplier payouts, mass disbursements — where per-transaction fees (among the lowest of any domestic rail) matter more than speed

RENTAS / RENTAS+ — Malaysia's only large-value payment system, now 24/7

RENTAS (Real Time Electronic Transfer of Funds and Securities) is Bank Negara Malaysia's real-time gross settlement system, first launched in 1999 as ASEAN's first RTGS system. It handles high-value interbank funds transfers and scripless securities transactions, and is Malaysia's designated large-value payment system (LVPS) — the systemically important infrastructure whose disruption could ripple through the wider financial system.

The October 2025 RENTAS+ upgrade is the significant change: rather than settling in scheduled windows, RENTAS+ now settles transactions individually and continuously, 24 hours a day, seven days a week — making it, per BNM, the first RTGS system in ASEAN to offer round-the-clock service. This isn't just a speed upgrade for large corporate transfers; it's also what allows DuitNow's retail volume to settle on a gross, real-time basis at the interbank level instead of waiting for a twice-daily netting cycle.

• Settlement type: Real-time gross settlement (RTGS) — individual, final, irrevocable, now continuous
• Speed: Immediate, 24/7 (previously limited to business-day settlement windows)
• Value tier: High-value and time-critical interbank transfers; in 2024, RENTAS settled transactions valued at RM73.63 trillion — roughly 45 times Malaysia's GDP
• What it's used for: Large single transfers between businesses, interbank obligations, securities settlement, and now the real-time settlement layer underneath DuitNow itself

Comparison at a glance

What this means if you're moving money in and out of Malaysia

For most merchants collecting from Malaysian customers or paying Malaysian suppliers, DuitNow is now capable of handling far more than small retail transfers — high per-transaction business limits mean it can serve as the primary rail for both collections and payouts, not just P2P. IBG remains the more cost-efficient choice for recurring bulk runs like payroll where instant settlement isn't required. RENTAS+ sits underneath both, and October 2025's round-the-clock upgrade means the entire chain — from a customer's instant DuitNow payment to its final interbank settlement — now runs 24/7 without the overnight or weekend gap that used to exist.

The practical takeaway: Malaysia's rails were already fast for the end user; RENTAS+ closed the remaining gap at the interbank layer, which matters most for payment providers managing liquidity and settlement risk on your behalf.