PayNow added to Singapore’s unified e-payment QR code
Customers and businesses can make e-payments using one quick response (QR) code that combines multiple digital payment solutions into one.
E-payment service PayNow has been added to the list of e-payment options payable through the national unified payment QR code, the Singapore Quick Response code (SGQR) - a single QR code that contains multiple e-payment options.
This means that businesses no longer need to generate and display a separate PayNow QR code.
The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) announced yesterday at the Singapore FinTech Festival that PayNow QR will be adopting SGQR specifications, enabling businesses to collect PayNow payments through the unified code.
Customers can scan the SGQR code, which displays the PayNow logo, with one of the participating banking apps and still pay through PayNow.
The participating banks are: Bank of China, Citibank Singapore, DBS Bank and POSB, HSBC, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Maybank, OCBC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and United Overseas Bank.
PayNow is a peer-to-peer funds transfer service allowing retail customers of the banks to send and receive money using only their mobile, NRIC or foreign identification numbers. Its extension PayNow Corporate, which allows businesses to transfer money electronically using their unique entity number, was introduced last year.
The SGQR code was launched in September last year and allows consumers to scan and transfer funds from more than 25 payment apps.
Besides retail stores, customers can also use PayNow through SGQR to pay for insurance fees at AXA and QBE Insurance, school fees at Nanyang Polytechnic and Josiah Montessori Preschool and utility bills from Senoko Energy Supply.
ABS said in a press release yesterday: "ABS will continue to work with the industry to promote PayNow as a convenient and secure means to transfer funds seamlessly."
ABS director Ong-Ang Ai Boon said: "With PayNow being part of the SGQR ecosystem, we believe the registrations and transactions will continue to ramp up. Our objective is to push PayNow as the ubiquitous payment mode in Singapore."
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