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SINGAPORE: Ever tried to scan and pay using a merchant’s QR code, only to realise you were not using a compatible app?\u00a0<\/p>\n
That could soon be a thing of the past as Singapore seeks to roll out the second generation of the instant digital payment service PayNow. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) hope to pilot this by the end of 2026.<\/p>\n
Online checkouts on PayNow could also be more seamless in future, without having to take a screenshot or download a QR code so as to upload it to the banking app.<\/p>\n
MAS and ABS hope to make this a reality within a year.<\/p>\n
These are among several areas identified as possible ways to enhance PayNow to better serve the needs of consumers, merchants, businesses and public agencies.<\/p>\n
The central bank and Singapore banking association on Thursday released a report titled PayNow Generation 2, which sought to define the next wave of innovation for Singapore\u2019s instant payments system.<\/p>\n
The announcement was made at the ABS annual dinner on Thursday (Jun 25).<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen payments become faster, more interoperable and richer in data, consumers, merchants, businesses and government services will all benefit,\u201d said Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong at the dinner.<\/p>\n
He said PayNow has become a cornerstone of Singapore\u2019s payments landscape, but as consumer and business needs evolve, the national payment rails must also improve.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Last year, PayNow processed around S$154 billion (US$119 billion) in consumer payment value and S$147 billion in business payment value, the MAS and ABS report said.<\/p>\n
PayNow Generation 2 will ensure that Singapore\u2019s systems are fit for purpose and future ready, said Mr Gan, who is also the MAS chairman.<\/p>\n
The study on PayNow was initiated because of new demands and trends across the payment ecosystem.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It will be conducted in two phases, with the latest report focusing on the first phase \u2013 reviewing PayNow\u2019s development, benchmarking it against other markets and identifying priority enhancements.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The report benchmarked PayNow against 11 other markets, including Malaysia\u2019s DuitNow, and found several areas that the service can be improved.<\/p>\n
Among other recommendations, the MAS and ABS report identified four ways that PayNow could be enhanced.<\/p>\n
The first is to make PayNow and NETS QR codes interoperable, which means that consumers can scan and pay at any merchant regardless of which service is used.<\/p>\n
Consumers would be able to use apps such as Citibank, Grab and HSBC to scan NETS QR codes, which is currently not possible.<\/p>\n
Simplifying and unifying the interoperability of the QR schemes can also enhance the experience for tourists in Singapore, who currently cannot use PayNow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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SINGAPORE: Ever tried to scan and pay using a merchant’s QR code, only to realise you were not using a compatible app?\u00a0 That could soon…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dam.mediacorp.sg\/image\/upload\/s--HhUVDPuf--\/c_fill,g_auto,h_676,w_1200\/fl_relative,g_south_east,l_mediacorp:cna:watermark:2021-08:cna,w_0.1\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1\/mediacorp\/cna\/image\/2026\/06\/25\/_wal2272.jpg?itok=LhJwfew7","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[42,25409,7192,43,7141,1109,174,9180,11323,22,2714],"class_list":["post-63723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-news-sg-global","tag-dpm","tag-enhancements","tag-exploring","tag-gan","tag-integration","tag-nets","tag-payment","tag-paynow","tag-reduced","tag-singapore","tag-steps","wpcat-2-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/63724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}