The dreaded parking surcharge for Touch ‘n Go (TnG) payment is finally coming to an end. According to the Group CEO of TnG, Effendy Shahul Hamid in a recent interview with The Star said the removal will take place by the end of this quarter.
The revelation is surely a long time coming for TnG customers as the plan to get rid of the surcharge has been made known to the public back in November 2019. Effendy who is also the CEO of TnG’s parent company, CIMB Digital Assets, said that the removal of the surcharge was made possible after it managed to convince parking operators as well as through some “innovation and sacrifice”.
In the same interview, he also revealed TnG’s plan to address another major pain point for its customers which is the inability to top-up their physical card via TnG eWallet app. While the app does have a feature called PayDirect which allows users to link it with their TnG cards, it can only be used for toll payment.
Furthermore, TNG Digital has noted in the FAQ document for TnG eWallet that by design, the transactions for existing TnG cards can only take place when in contact with a card reader. So, it is not surprising that TnG Group is going to tackle the issue by rolling out a new version of the TnG card that can support credit top-up through the TNG eWallet app by the end of this year.
That being said, we don’t think the e-wallet reload feature will be the only attraction that will be offered by the new TnG card though. In fact, we believe that there is a possibility that the new TnG card is also going to be a payment card that acts as a physical extension to the TnG eWallet.
Several local players such as Maybank, AirAsia Digital, and Merchantrade already launched such cards in the market while Singaporean fintech company YouTrip has also announced its plan to do the same in Malaysia soon. Being a CIMB’s subsidiary, we don’t think this is something that will be overlooked by TnG.
(Source: The Star [requires subscription].)
