Following this announcement, customers will be enabled to transfer funds instantly between the two countries by leveraging the recipient’s mobile phone number or Virtual Payment Address (VPA). Furthermore, the product will allow person-to-person (P2P) cross-border fund transfers via PayNow and DuitNow in a secure and efficient manner, in order to meet the needs, preferences, and demands of clients from the regions of Singapore and Malaysia.
The partnership follows the QR payment linkage that was announced in March 2023, which focused on allowing merchants and traders to benefit from cross-border QR payments.
The PayNow-DuitNow linkage is set to allow instant, secure, and cost-effective P2P fund transfers and remittances, as it focuses on providing access to cross-border payments and transfers to a broader group of customers and individuals. Clients of participating financial institutions are given the possibility to send and receive funds of up to SGD 1.000 and MYR 3.000 daily by leveraging the recipient’s mobile phone number or VPA.
In addition, the service will be made available to Singapore-based users and individuals of Liquid Group, Maybank Singapore, OCBC, and UOB, under a phased strategy, where the institutions will need to progressively increase the number of eligible customer groups until the end of January 2024. This approach is set to support the client’s familiarisation with the newly released product. Alongside, for users in Malaysia, the solution will be first available for all Maybank, CIMB, and TNG Digital clients, with other enterprises and financial institutions being planned to be onboarded in the following months.
The linkage of PayNow and DuitNow represented an outcome of the extensive collaboration between the central banks, payment operators, participating financial institutions, and scheme owners of both countries. The partnership aims to improve the overall cost, speed, access, and transparency of cross-border payments, as well as enable both regions to benefit from the linkage’s cost-effectiveness, inclusivity, and security.
At the same time, both countries will focus on laying the foundations for scalable and safe cross-border payment networks across and beyond the region of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The launch aligns with the objectives of the ASEAN Payment Connectivity Initiative, as well as with the G20 Roadmap for Enhancing Cross-border Payments.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now