PayNow is a near-instant real-time payment system developed by Association of Banks in Singapore.[1] The interface facilitates inter-bank peer-to-peer and person-to-merchant transactions. The system is supported by all major Singaporean banks and is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and works by transferring funds between two bank accounts.

PayNow
Product typeInstant real-time inter-bank payment system
OwnerAssociation of Banks in Singapore
Produced byAssociation of Banks in Singapore
CountrySingapore
Introduced10 July 2017; 7 years ago (2017-07-10)
Markets
  •  Singapore
  • International by cross border payment agreements
Websitewww.abs.org.sg/consumer-banking/pay-now

Payments can be made to any registered Singaporean mobile number, NRIC, corporate Unique Entity Number (UEN) or Virtual Payment Address (VPA).[1] Scanning QR codes is also an option. PayNow is linked with other payment providers including Stripe,[2] DuitNow (Malaysia),[3] PromptPay (Thailand)[4] and UPI (India).[5]

In 2020, 125 million transactions worth S$22 billion were processed through PayNow.[6]

International collaboration

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Project Nexus

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The Bank for International Settlements signed an agreement with Central Bank of Malaysia, Bank of Thailand, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the Reserve Bank of India on 30 June 2024 as founding member of Project Nexus, a multilateral international initiative to enable retail cross-border payments. Bank Indonesia involved as a special observer. The platform, which is expected to go live by 2026, will interlink domestic fast payment systems of the member countries.[7]

References

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  1. ^ a b "PayNow Singapore". The Association of Banks in Singapore. Archived from the original on 7 December 2023.
  2. ^ Ng, Kelly (21 April 2022). "Singapore-based Stripe users can now accept payments via PayNow". The Business Times. Archived from the original on 22 February 2024. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  3. ^ Ganapathy, Kurt (27 September 2021). "Singapore's PayNow to be linked with Malaysia's DuitNow in phases from 2022". CNA. Archived from the original on 28 December 2023.
  4. ^ "Initiative: BoT and MAS's PromptPay-PayNow link". Central Banking. 31 March 2022. Archived from the original on 2 December 2023.
  5. ^ Ang, Prisca (14 September 2021). "PayNow to link with India's UPI for instant, low-cost fund transfers". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 24 February 2023.
  6. ^ Yong, Clement (4 October 2021). "PayNow transactions doubled to $22 billion in 2020, on track to set higher record this year". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 3 December 2022.
  7. ^ Kawale, Ajinkya (1 July 2024). "RBI, four Asean countries tie up for cross-border payments platform". Business Standard. Retrieved 2 July 2024.