First Stop - Singapore
Contributed by Lim Jing Wei, Chief Fintech Officer
Currently, over 70 countries across six continents offer real-time payments, with a transaction volume of US$195 billion in 2022 — a 63% growth year-on-year, as per ACI Worldwide’s March 2023 report. Over the next few weeks, we will deep dive into the major real-time payments network across the world. The first network is none other than our Singapore’s FAST network.
FAST (Fast And Secure Transfers) was originally launched on 17 March 2014 and included only bank participants. FAST has included Non-FI (Financial Institutions) participants since 8 February 2021. FAST enables almost immediate receipt of money. Recipients will know the status of the transfer by accessing their bank account via Internet banking or via notification service offered by the participating bank or NFI. FAST is available anytime, 24x7, 365 days.
Debuted in 2017 for banks and 2021 for non-bank FI, PayNow and PayNow Corporate operates atop the FAST payment mechanism, permitting almost instantaneous transactions among more than Twenty banks and five non-bank financial establishments to date.
Senders merely need the recipient’s mobile number, Singapore NRIC/FIN or Virtual Payment Address (VPA) or Unique Entity Number (UEN) instantly and no longer need to know the recipient’s bank/e-wallet provider and account number when transferring. With PayNow Corporate, retail customers of participating banks can now transfer funds to entities and vice versa.
CYS Global Remit is already accepting and sending funds via FAST and PayNow. Stay tuned as we continue next week for the next network, Malaysia’s DuitNow.
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