National Day Rally: Singapore to go bigger on e-payments with PayNow, common QR code
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says efforts to simplify and integrate electronic payment systems are underway, including making such a method available at hawker centres, in a bid to transform the country into a Smart Nation. Read more at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/national-day-rally-singapore-to-go-bigger-on-e-payments-with-9140068
Ricky Lim · Singapore Cashless transactions have been adopted widely by many developing Countries like China using QR code via mobile wallet.
Countries such as India, even some Africa Countries are using cashless transactions plus some ASEAN countries.
Cashless transactions will make Countries economically competitive as cost for printing money, escorting money, distribution of money via ATM etc, bank counters etc will be greatly reduced.
Also large transactions can be done online - and this will facilitate digital economy, ecommerce with click of a few buttons - without the constraint of the amount of cash a person can carry - which will help to fuel economic growth. Like · Reply · Just now
Ricky Lim · Singapore Assuming buying a car that cost $100,000, a person will need to carry a briefcase full of cash - probably escorted by 2 armed guards. Beyond $100,000, a commercial transaction will not be possible.
But if cashless transaction is done, then there is no limit as to the amount of ecommerce transaction can be done - as it can be done online electronically.
This will increase economic growth many fold. Like · Reply · Just now Ricky Lim · Singapore The only catch is - is mobile wallet via Android phone safe and secure - as it can be hacked. Elder less internet savvy will have problem using mobile phone for cashless transaction.
What about those that don't carry smartphone? Then cashless transaction via mWallet will not be possible. Thus alternative cashless transaction not via smartphone will be needed. Like · Reply · Just now Ricky Lim · Singapore In other words, cashless transaction, digital economy can help to fuel economic growth, increase consumption and boost business activities and economic activities - to supplement and open up new economic sectors.
This will help to create new jobs for those tech savvy sectors - such as those that create mobile apps for each traditional industrial and economic sector.
This will help business to grow and jobs to grow. Like · Reply · Just now
Daisy Lai You MIW dog, only good at barking and wagging tails behind your MIW master. You are a disgrace to Singapore. Like · Reply · 12 hrs
Ricky Lim · Singapore Daisy Lai - your parents did not teach you to have manners isn't it? Your years of education have produced such a useless person like you - is the failure of your parents. Like · Reply · Just now Like · Reply · 18 mins Ricky Lim · Singapore It is a simple facts that developing countries and developed countries - can surpass us with digital economy, cashless transactions by being efficient, effective and cost savings.
Imagine in a cash society, assume few hundred billions of cash need to be printed and circulated - which will be a tremendous cost to Singapore. And worst, the Economy will be constraint and limited by the few hundred billions of cash that are printed.
Cashless transactions and digital economy - will go beyond the cash printed - as the economic transactions are digital with no physical cash.
Noticed that the poor, elderly in China and some developing countries are quite savvy in using cashless means for transactions - like buying drinks, using rented bikes, hailing taxis, buying food from small retail stalls, vending machines etc.
Singapore is behind the curves and need to catch up - if Singapore want to be competitive to create business, create jobs and grow jobs.
So daisy lai - is just a useless person, foolish person with no foresight, a real true born loser, not worth mentioning. Like · Reply · Just now Ricky Lim · Singapore Digital Economy, cashless transactions can go beyond physical boundaries and grow business without being confined by physical boundaries or territories and will surely help Singapore to expand into another wing of economic growth.
This wisdom is too deep and profound for daisy lai with small brain to understand. That is why daisy lai is a born loser in our society and deserve to be so. Like · Reply · Just now Ricky Lim · Singapore Imagine retail shops, hawkers etc got to carry bags and bags of coins, cash - everyday queue up in banks to deposit or withdraw cash --- it is alot of overhead and manpower to manage the coins and cash.
Imagine using cashless method or digital transactions - cash are deposited or paid in split second online - as business and consumer received or make payment instantaneously without any fuss and almost negligible overhead.
Imagine productivity increase many fold and economic growth improve significantly - with cashless and digital transactions. Like · Reply · Just now Posted by Babe at 10:05 AM No comments: Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook
Credit card payment, paywave, debit card payment, ATM to withdraw cash, cheque payment, nets, cashcard, ezlink in addition to cash - are mode of payment in Singapore.
Thus e-payment via mobile phone - known as mobile wallet or mWallet - is not so prevalent in Singapore because of the above payment mode.
Unless there are more incentive via mWallet - else the rest of the payment mode are very entrenched.
The thing is unlike some countries, BANKs in singapore dun Charge a FEE when we do a withdrawal from ATM. some countries and banks charge a fee when you do a ATM withdrawal so using cashless payment is perferred, just as there is a 30 cents charge if you use the auto top up service to topup your ezlink card, while if you withdraw cash from ATM then go to counter to do so, there is no charge. if the govt wants to encourage more e-payments than barriers like service charge for using them should be waived and maybe we should charge MORE for using cash to topup at Transitlink counters. like a 50 cent service charge per topup. which will make passengers seek out other payment methods. Just like for BUSes, you have to PAY more if you use Coins/cash for your bus ride compared to using Ezlink cards. so if you opt to stick to cash, then there should be a "handling fee" of maybe 10cents per $10. might nudge people to use cashless more often.
+Ricky Lim Another reason i can think of is singaporeans change their mobile phones so often and we also tend to lose it. there is a misunderstanding that if your mobile phone is lost, your bank account will be "exposed" to theives. which is actually not true. but a lot of people dun understand how it all works and dun bother to find out. I think the Big players have to start accepting PAYNOW before slowly encouraging small business to follow, players like NTUC Fairprice, Cheers, Sheng Siong, ColdStorage, 7-11, petrol kiosks etc have to lead the way, and major food chains like Mac, KFC, subway, etc places where youngsters eat and gather, can also be the first to accept such payment systems.
Winston Ling - I think there are quite a number of considerations before mWallet like paynow, paylah, payanyone etc will pick up. (1) Retailers, shop etc - are currently maintaining various payment devices such as Nets or debit card,paywave or credit card (for mastercard, visa), discount card eg. NTUC discount or link card, kopitian card using cash for topup, NTUC discount card for foodfare using cash for topup, etc ---- all these are sunk in cost for many retailers who has invested in those devices and has sign long-term contract with banks, credit card company or finance company. They will not simply use mWallet such as paynow, paylah, payanyone etc but throwing away all the entrenced invested current mode of payment. (2) Finance companies, credit card company, banks, Nets etc - will definitely defend their turf - and will not let mWallet take over their business. For eg. do you think visa or mastercard will close shop and lose business to mWallet? Consumers got so many cash discount from this credit card company, NTUC link points etc ---- and they will not junk this cash discount to use mWallet because mWallet don't give discount - but in fact deduct straight from the consumer's saving fast. (3) Many elderly, low income, etc are so use to ATM and cash withdrawal. Many don't carry mobile phone or know how to use the mobile apps such as paynow, paylah, payanyone. If banks suddenly charge a fee for ATM withdrawal, there will be a public uproar. Firstly, retailers are not ready to deploy QR code for mWallet epayment - due to their current sunk in payment. Secondly, some consumers are not proficient in mWallet or have mobile phone to make epayment. China can move straight in - into mWallet - because they can jump straight to mWallet without the old baggage of older sunken investment in epayment such as credit card. For eg. Chinak are not trying mastercard or visa - because it originate from US.
For mWallet such as paynow, paylah, payanyone etc to be successful, starting with younger consumers, millenials will be a good start - it was announced that 640,000 of such people has signed up.
The reason being, many of this group of people are :- (1) tech savvy - especially in using mobile phone, mWallet (2) many of this people are still not holding credit card but is holding debit card - due to earning - thus mWallet is one good mode of payment. For older people with more established financial earnings - many are holding credit cards and are used to using credit cards to make payment such as paywave and earning cash discount - and thus less likely to switch to mWallet such as paynow.
National Day Rally: Singapore to go bigger on e-payments with PayNow, common QR code
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says efforts to simplify and integrate electronic payment systems are underway, including making such a method available at hawker centres, in a bid to transform the country into a Smart Nation.
SINGAPORE: Singapore has the“right ingredients” to be a Smart Nation, but it lags behind other cities in certain areas such as electronic payments, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his National Day Rally speech on Sunday (Aug 20). But efforts are underway to address this, including making e-payments possible at hawker centres.
Mr Lee pointed out that the country has a natural advantage in that it is compact and highly connected, Singaporeans are digitally literate and schools here are teaching students basic computing and robotics.
He illustrated this with an anecdote of what Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say observed when he visited Shanghai a couple of years ago. When queuing to buy chestnuts at a roadside hawker, Mr Lim saw people ahead of him waving their smartphones before collecting their chestnuts and leaving without paying any cash.
He assumed that there was some special offer and told the vendor he did not need it and offered to pay the full price in cash. The hawker pointed to a QR code, and it was only then that Mr Lim realised that people were paying for their chestnuts using the QR code for WeChat Pay, the Prime Minister recounted.
Mr Lee noted that in major Chinese cities, cash has become “obsolete” and even debit and credit cards are becoming rare, as everyone is using WeChat Pay or AliPay. These can be used for nearly all payments such as buying snacks from roadside stalls, paying for taxi rides and tipping waiters at restaurants, he added.
“So when visitors from China find that they have to use cash here, they ask: ‘How can Singapore be so backward?’”
While Singapore, too, has e-payments there are too many different schemes and systems that “don’t talk to one another”, Mr Lee said. This has resulted in most people here preferring cash and cheques, which make up 6 in 10 transactions, he said.
E-PAYMENTS IN THE HEARTLANDS
Mr Lee said to help address this, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is working to integrate the different systems into one. For instance, there is now a single unified terminal that can read different cards.
More recently, anew service called PayNowwas rolled out by the Association of Banks this June. It links bank accounts to a person’s mobile number or identity card number, so they can send funds to others via phone numbers instead of having to remember bank account numbers.
There are plans to make QR codes available for PayNow, as well as for this e-payment method to be available at hawker centres, Mr Lee revealed.
In a separate press release on Sunday, the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO) said efforts are underway to develop a common QR code for Singapore, to make it easier for consumers and small businesses to receive money via PayNow. This, it said, will be rolled out in six months’ time.
It added there is an initiative to build better and easier ways for businesses to connect to and use PayNow, such as through new bulk processing functionalities.
MAS and banks here are also working with industry partners on simplifying e-payments at merchants through the deployment of unified point-of-sales (UPOS) terminals, SNDGO said, adding that 25,000 such terminals will be rolled out over the next 18 months.
SNDGO added that the National Environment Agency (NEA) will be embarking on the adoption of e-payments at hawker centres, which will be “rolled out in phases”.
Source: CNA/kk Read more at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/national-day-rally-singapore-to-go-bigger-on-e-payments-with-9140068
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