Real-time payment system between Malaysia and Singapore launched

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 17 — Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have jointly launched a real-time payment system linkage between Malaysia’s DuitNow and Singapore’s PayNow.

BNM said the DuitNow-PayNow linkage enables instant, secure and cost-effective peer-to-peer (P2P) fund transfers and remittances between the two countries.

Governor Datuk Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour said cross-border payments that are fast, secure, and cost efficient could provide immense benefits, especially for individuals and small businesses in countries with very close economic ties such as Malaysia and Singapore.

“The linkage enables us to reap these benefits towards our shared growth and prosperity, while laying the foundations for scalable cross-border payment networks across and beyond Asean,” he said in a statement today.

Meanwhile, MAS managing director Ravi Menon said this collaboration is the culmination of a shared aspiration by Malaysia and Singapore to facilitate cross-border payments between them and represents another step toward Asean’s vision for regional payments interconnectivity.

DuitNow-PayNow is the first real-time payment system linkage to include the participation of non-bank financial institutions from both countries, providing access to a broader group of users.

The service, which enables cross-border QR payments to merchants following the QR payment linkage announced on March 31 earlier, will first be available for all Maybank, CIMB and Touch ‘n Go digital’s users with other financial institutions gradually onboarded thereafter for users in Malaysia.

As for Singapore, the service will be made available to customers of Liquid Group, Maybank Singapore, OCBC and United Overseas Bank under a phased approach, where these institutions will progressively increase the number of eligible user groups from today until end-January 2024, BNM said.

“Consumers of participating financial institutions are now able to send and receive funds of up to RM3,000 or S$1,000 daily by using the recipient’s mobile phone number or virtual payment address,” it said.

BNM said the DuitNow-PayNow linkage is an outcome of extensive collaboration among the central banks, payment system operators, scheme owners, and participating financial institutions of both countries.

“It is an important milestone in improving the cost, speed, access and transparency of cross-border payments as users from both countries will benefit from the linkage’s cost effectiveness, inclusivity and accessibility.

“It is also aligned with the objectives of the Asean Payment Connectivity Initiative and the G20 Roadmap for Enhancing Cross-border Payments,” it said.

In 2022, P2P and remittance transactions between the two countries stood at RM7.8 billion/S$2.3 billion. — Bernama