KUALA LUMPUR (April 9): TNG Digital Sdn Bhd will start imposing a 1% overseas transaction conversion fee for its cross-border QR payment feature in Touch 'n Go (TNG) eWallet, starting from April 25, which had been free of charge previously.

TNG Digital said the charge is to ensure its business sustainability, as it had previously subsidised the cost of overseas transactions to promote the use of TNG eWallet for international payments over the past year, despite it being a common fee charged by all credit and debit cards, as well as other e-wallets.

"Although it has always been an industry standard for credit and debit cards as well as other e-wallets to impose an overseas transaction conversion fee, we have subsidised these costs in the past to promote the cross-border payment feature of TNG eWallet," TNG Digital chief executive officer Alan Ni said in a statement on Tuesday.

"However, with the increase in overseas travel, we understand the need to ensure our business sustains in the long run. We are committed to continuing to provide seamless cross-border payments to our users. We have partnered with international businesses to create a strong network of merchants in over 40 countries, making it easy to use TNG eWallet for payments outside Malaysia," he added.

To ensure full transparency and eliminate any separate hidden fees, TNG Digital said the new fee will be reflected in the daily exchange rate of the user's travel destination, which will be shown in real time before payment.

The fee does not affect the fee structure of the TNG eWallet Visa card.

Payments via TNG eWallet are available in 47 different countries, including the US, the UK, China, Singapore, and Australia.

In February, TNG Digital started to impose a 1% fee for all top-ups to TNG eWallet using credit cards in an effort to curb excessive cash withdrawals using credit cards. Top-ups through debit cards and DuitNow remain free of charge.