Singapore and Malaysia to Phase in Interbank Consumer Payments

Consumers in Singapore and Malaysia are expected to soon be able to make inter-bank payments between the two countries using their mobile phone numbers. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) have announced plans to commence a phased linkage of Singapore’s PayNow and Malaysia’s DuitNow real-time payment systems. PayNow is a service offered by participating banks that lets consumers send and receive Singapore Dollar funds from one bank to another using a mobile number. Malaysia’s DuitNow system is similar.

The first phase of the DuitNow-PayNow linkage will start in Q4 2022 to allow customers of participating financial institutions to make real-time fund transfers between Malaysia and Singapore using their mobile phone. Customers will also be able to make retail payments by scanning DuitNow or NETS QR codes displayed at merchants’ storefronts. The project will enable more seamless payments for the high volume of remittances between Malaysia and Singapore, which reached RM4.2 billion in 2020.

Both regulators have also pledged to explore the feasibility of integrating innovative features such as distributed ledger technology-based solutions to catalyse greater efficiencies in payments clearing and settlement between participating banks. “By bringing the efficiencies observed in domestic payments to cross-border payments, the DuitNow-PayNow linkage will be a game-changer resulting in faster, cheaper and more accessible payment services for the people of both countries,” said BNM Assistant Governor, Fraziali Ismail. 

“For Singapore, the remittance corridor with Malaysia is our largest remittance corridor; hence, the DuitNow-PayNow linkage will be an important infrastructure to support cross-border payment needs of individuals and businesses, as well as the growing digital economic activity between both countries,” said MAS Chief FinTech Officer, Sopnendu Mohanty.