MALAYSIA: Mobile Payment Link-up with Singapore Set for Autumn 2022

Malaysia's DuitNow and Singapore's PayNow real-time digital payment systems are to begin a phased link-up as of the fourth quarter of next year. The DuitNow-PayNow link, as jointly announced by the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), will allow users to transfer funds between the two countries using only their mobile numbers. It will also be possible to make retail payments by scanning an in-store DuitNow or NETS QR code. 

According to the banks, the link will streamline the payment of the high volume of remittances sent between the two countries, which totaled US$964 million in 2020. It is anticipated that the new link will cut the cost of sending such remittances by half, while reducing the transmission time from its current level of one to two working days to less than five minutes.