SINGAPORE (Aug 10): Times are changing for businesses with the boom of the e-payments movement in Singapore.
More than 66% or two in three Singapore-based SMEs say that they are likely to go cashless – including doing away with cheques – by 2023, according to a poll conducted by OCBC Bank, two weeks before the launch of PayNow on 13 Aug for businesses.
What is even more encouraging is that more than 45% of the respondents anticipate going cashless by as early as 2020.
This survey was conducted against the backdrop of overwhelming response received by OCBC from businesses enquiring about PayNow: 9 in 10 new to OCBC Bank customers pre-registered for the service since April 2018.
According to the poll, the top three reasons for businesses to sign up for PayNow are the convenience compared to handling cash and cheques, which requires physically being at a bank; ease of payments without the need to know the payees’ bank details; and instantaneous deposits into the bank accounts that would improve cash flow.
Ong Ye Kung, Minister for Education and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) board member said at the Association of Banks in Singapore’s 45th annual dinner that the share of cheques, as a proportion of all payments using the Fast and Secure Transfers (FAST) interbank transfer service, GIRO and cheques, was about 28% last year, down from 37% in 2015.
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Ong also added that Singapore should aim to have ATM cash withdrawals at 20% of the transaction value of e-payments by 2020, and that Singapore should be cheque-free by 2025.
Melvyn Low, head of global transaction banking of OCBC Bank says, “From the sustained, strong response to PayNow from our customers, we are confident that there will be a significant reduction in cash and cheque use. As banker to 1 in 2 SMEs in Singapore, we have a responsibility to make sure that our customers understand how PayNow, and e-payments as a whole, can benefit their business. We have been working with customers on this and will continue our efforts on this front.”
