PayNow has proven to be a very convenient fund transfer service in Singapore as it foregoes keying in the bank account number to perform a transaction.
Instead, all it needs is the recipient’s mobile number or NRIC number to transfer funds.
Beyond transferring to individuals, PayNow has launched a corporate service in August last year, which allows firms to pay and receive money in Singapore currency instantly from customers and other firms.
On August 11 (Sunday), PayNow announced that it is extending its service to all government agencies and statutory boards so Singaporeans can have another payment option beyond the existing Giro system.
Giro is apparently not as efficient as it requires people to fill up forms with their bank account details and takes up to two days to clear payment.
PayNow on the other hand, has grown to be the most widely accepted e-payment system; and a bulk tender has been put in place to bring public agencies onboard the service.
“This is in line with the digital government blueprint target to offer e-payment options for all government services by 2023,” said a spokesman from the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO).
“The bulk tender will allow government agencies to easily tap PayNow to disburse or receive payments in cases where the Government does not have (the) account numbers of recipients, and to effect these transfers in real time to improve service delivery.”
Use PayNow To Pay From Fees To Fines
This extension will allow the Government to receive and disburse instant funds without the hassle of entering bank account or credit card details.
On the citizens’ end, Singaporeans can expect to instantly pay for sports facility bookings, library fines or conservancy fees by scanning a QR code with their banking apps.
Other uses include paying for school fees and traffic fines.
The rollout of PayNow in the public sector will let Singaporeans complete between 90 per cent and 95 per cent of transactions with the Government without leaving their homes.
Under a pilot scheme, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has used PayNow to disburse Edusave Award monies to recipients.
Meanwhile, the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board allows lump sum withdrawals to be done through PayNow.
No PayNow?
If you have yet to jump onboard the PayNow bandwagon, it takes less than 5 minutes to set it up!
There are three ways to go about doing it: via SMS, mobile banking app, and internet banking website.
To date, the nine participating banks for PayNow are DBS/POSB, UOB, OCBC, Citibank, HSBC, Maybank, Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of China and ICBC.
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