Mobile wallets and electronic transfers
Mobile wallets and electronic transfers represent a major part of the country's digital payments. Their development has been facilitated by national infrastructures and inter-bank collaborations. With 1.8 million users in 2020, mobile wallet usage is expected to grow over the next few years. Super apps such as Grab reinforce the use of these wallets, allowing global access to a multitude of everyday services with a single payment method. The convenience of these mobile wallets is enhanced by QR code payments. As such, the Singapore Quick Response Code (SGQR) was implemented, allowing for payments to be bundled via a single QR code, facilitating transactions between consumers and merchants regardless of the type of wallet used. More recently, QR codes also enable cross-border payments, with the collaboration with Promptpay between Singapore and Thailand. This initiative is expected to be expanded throughout Southeast Asia, which would avoid U.S. dollar conversions for transfers within ASEAN.In line with Singapore’s vision of an innovative and digitalized society, national electronic transfer programs have been implemented to facilitate instant funds exchange. PayNow enables peer-to-peer transfers between customers of ten banks, including four non-financial institutions. The national Fast And Secure Transfers (FAST) infrastructure complements this program by allowing electronic transfers between customers of participating banks for the instant transfer of Singapore Dollar funds.
