Transforming Asia's financial services through open banking

WHEN Singapore first introduced PayNow in July 2017, the funds transfer service was used primarily for small transactions between friends who had linked their bank accounts to their phone number.

Making a payment was easy, since transfers were immediate and the sender only needed to know the recipient's mobile number. Businesses were subsequently assigned Unique Entity Numbers, or UENs, and individuals could make payments through their phones with the help of QR codes.

PayNow is an example of how consumers and small merchants can benefit when different financial institutions work together to ensure seamless transactions among their clients. The system is now ubiquitous in Singapore, with over three million individual users and 129,000 merchants in a population of 5.6 million.