{"id":759517,"date":"2026-06-25T14:33:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T14:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/759517\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T14:33:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T14:33:13","slug":"paynow-upgrades-offer-unified-qr-payment-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/759517\/","title":{"rendered":"PayNow upgrades offer unified QR payment experience"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">SINGAPORE \u2013 PayNow users can expect a more seamless payment experience with a new set of enhancements unveiled by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS).<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">These include a unified QR payment experience for local users and tourists using PayNow and NETS QR codes, as well as an enhanced online checkout experience for customers shopping on major merchants\u2019 websites and e-commerce platforms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Transactions in larger values for selected government payments are also being studied, alongside a wider range of payment options to support businesses, including low-value, high-frequency transactions and expanded cross-border connectivity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The current limit for PayNow via the FAST (Fast And Secure Transfers) service is $200,000 per transaction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The proposals form part of the PayNow Generation 2 study unveiled on June 25, which aims to prepare Singapore\u2019s national payments infrastructure for changing consumer and business needs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Merchants currently process payments through either a PayNow bank or NETS. As a result, not all banking apps or wallets can scan a NETS QR code, and the NETS app cannot scan and pay through a PayNow QR code.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">MAS and ABS said they aim to pilot the unified QR payment experience by end-2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">They also target to have the smoother online checkout functionality ready within a year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Consumers making online purchases currently have to save a PayNow QR code, switch to their banking app to complete the payment, and then return to the merchant\u2019s website.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Under the proposed integration, users would be taken directly from a merchant\u2019s website or app to their banking or wallet app with payment details pre-filled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The testing for larger-value government transactions will begin in 2027, while preparation for expanded capabilities for business needs will start in 2026, MAS and ABS added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">In the study, PayNow was benchmarked against payment systems in 11 jurisdictions: Australia, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">It found that PayNow did well in areas such as adoption and reach, pricing, and core user experience.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">But it also identified room for improvement in advanced consumer capabilities, such as pre-authorised and recurring payments, as well as business-to-business payment flows and higher transaction limits.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/fc412b8284bee7188265e3ae6801c9261c7942eeaa6182a9782ca637561d8152.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"aspect-portrait flex items-start shrink-0 portrait article-portrait object-contain mobile:w-auto tablet:w-auto\" data-testid=\"image-test-id\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">PayNow was launched in 2017 as a peer-to-peer fund transfer service in response to demands from consumers to make transferring funds easier and more convenient, and to allow real-time bank transfers without having to share bank account details.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">An MAS spokesperson told The Straits Times in April that over 90 per cent of Singapore residents and businesses use PayNow, according to ABS data.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SINGAPORE \u2013 PayNow users can expect a more seamless payment experience with a new set of enhancements unveiled&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":759518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[64,63,203,105],"class_list":["post-759517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mobile","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=759517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/759518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=759517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=759517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=759517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}