IMDA partners DBS, OCBC, UOB on e-invoicing through banking solutions

THE Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has partnered DBS, OCBC and UOB to develop banking solutions, leveraging nationwide e-invoicing network InvoiceNow with the PayNow e-payment system.

InvoiceNow and PayNow both use the Unique Entity Number to help businesses send or receive invoices and collect payments.

By registering for both services, businesses can enjoy business efficiency, cost reduction and seamless payments, IMDA said in a press statement on Wednesday.

IMDA implemented the nationwide e-invoicing network - now called InvoiceNow - in 2019 to help businesses improve efficiency, reduce cost, receive payment faster, facilitate cross-border business transactions and reduce impact on the environment by using fewer paper invoices.

Today, there are about 25,000 companies on InvoiceNow, up from 1,000 at the beginning of 2020, IMDA assistant chief executive Jane Lim said.

"Within the past three months, we have seen an exponential increase in businesses coming onboard e-invoicing," she noted.

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DBS group head of global transaction services John Laurens said: "As the bank with the largest PayNow market share in Singapore, we will continue to actively engage our corporate customers on the benefits of digital to drive greater adoption of InvoiceNow and PayNow to ensure they have their best foot forward as we embark into the next normal."

OCBC head of global transaction banking Melvyn Low said InvoiceNow and PayNow are two initiatives that have seen strong take-up from the bank's business banking customers.

"The complementary nature of the invoice and payment cycles means that businesses can digitalise their cash conversion cycle end-to-end to enjoy even more convenience and time savings," he added.

UOB country head of business banking Singapore Mervyn Koh said: "We expect that the launch of InvoiceNow will drive greater adoption of e-invoicing, thereby creating a virtuous circle where businesses adopt and benefit from digital solutions."

IMDA said businesses that register for InvoiceNow on or before Dec 31, 2020 can receive an e-invoicing registration grant of S$200, which will be paid out through PayNow Corporate. The grant was announced in March 2020 as part of the Resilience Budget, and S$10 million has been set aside for it.

As at the midday break on Wednesday, DBS shares were down 0.1 per cent or S$0.01 at S$19.73, UOB slipped 0.3 per cent or S$0.05 to S$18.96, while OCBC fell 0.4 per cent or S$0.03 to S$8.38.