ABS gives cash incentive to small businesses that sign up for PayNow

The Association of Banks in Singapore will give away S$500,000 as a reward to small businesses that sign up for PayNow, in a drive to encourage greater use of digital payments to minimise community spread of Covid-19. The first 20,000 small businesses to sign up for the service between now and July 31 will get a cash incentive of S$25 each.

Those that receive more than 10 payments via the peer-to-peer fund-transfer service during the period will receive an additional S$25, the ABS said in a statement on Thursday.

Nine banks here offer PayNow: DBS/POSB, OCBC Bank, UOB, Citibank, Standard Chartered, HSBC, Maybank, Bank of China, and Industrial and Commercial Bank.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it is working closely with ABS to increase adoption of e-payments among businesses and individuals. The authority said it expects financial institutions to provide as many basic financial services as possible through digital channels that will not require clients' physical presence in their premises.

The Singapore central bank said in a statement on Thursday: "The MAS urges individuals and businesses to use digital financial services and e-payments, and to minimise visits to the premises of financial institutions. This will contribute to the effectiveness of the elevated safe-distancing measures announced by the Ministry of Health last week."

In conjunction with this drive, UOB will also waive fees for up to 100 FAST (Fast And Secure Transfers)/ PayNow FAST transactions each month for its corporate customers.

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To date, more than two million individuals have registered to use PayNow, which was launched by the Association of Banks in Singapore. Over 120,000 business have also adopted PayNow Corporate and the Singapore Quick Response (QR) Code, the nation's unified payment code.