Singapore consumers harbour distrust of electronic payments, study shows

Half of Singapore consumers rate e-wallets and payment apps as adequately secure and 65% say likewise for mobile banking apps, reveals the study conducted in September 2018, indicating the lowest confidence level amongst six Asian markets.

Approximately 76% of the respondents across the region used the same passwords for all of the apps and services that held personal payment data. In Singapore, this figure stood at 86%, with only 14% using different passwords for their online accounts – the lowest amongst markets in Southeast Asia. At 30%, Thailand led the region in its use of different passwords across their online accounts. 58% across the region stored their bank, debit, or credit card details in at least one online service, app, or subscription. In Singapore, 46% did likewise, as did 65% in Indonesia and 63% in Thailand.

Asked to rate their bank’s performance in terms of providing transparency in their policies and terms and conditions, just over half of Singapore consumers gave a rating of between 7 and 10, with 1 being the poorest performance and 10 the best. Across the region, this figure clocked at 69%, with Indonesians the most satisfied with their bank’s performance in this aspect, at 80%.

In terms of their bank’s performance with regards to data privacy and ethical use of data, 61% of Singapore consumers rated their provider on a scale of 7 to 10, compared to 73% across the region. Here, Indonesia was the most satisfied with their bank’s performance as well, at 84%.

Singapore has made various efforts in its bid to encourage higher adoption of electronic or online payments, including rolling out a single, unified POS terminal and introducing a peer-to-peer funds transfer service that enables users to pay and receive money using mobile numbers. It also launched a universal QR code in 2018.