THE Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) on Friday announced that the transaction limit for the Fast and Secure Transfers system (Fast) will be raised from S$50,000 to S$200,000 with effect from Feb 5.

The revised limit will apply to both personal and corporate banking customers. Customers, however, will still be subject to daily and monthly limits set by their respective banks.

"With the convenience and increased adoption of Fast, and in preparation for future initiatives such as PayNow Corporate, there is a need for a higher transaction limit to cater to the growing demand for electronic funds transfers and payments," it said.

Fast usage has grown strongly since its launch in March 2014, and further accelerated after the launch of PayNow in July 2017. In less than four years, the average monthly Fast transaction volume grew almost six times. In December 2017 alone, close to four million transactions valued at S$7.3 billion were executed via Fast.

Jacqueline Loh, deputy managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said that the central bank welcomes the increased limit for electronic payments via Fast.

"Allowing for larger-value payments will help promote the wider use of Fast instead of cheques. With PayNow Corporate in the pipeline, businesses will further benefit from the increased convenience of making payments using the recipient's mobile number, NRIC number or unique entity number."

PayNow lets customers send and receive Singapore-dollar funds through Fast using just their mobile number or Singapore NRIC. PayNow will be extended to corporate customers this year, allowing businesses to link their unique entity numbers to their bank accounts.