Standalone OCBC Pay Anyone app launched in ‘war on cash’

SINGAPORE – In what it called “a war on cash,” OCBC Bank on Tuesday (May 30) launched its first standalone mobile payments app which makes QR code cashless payments available at close to 2,500 NETS terminals.

The OCBC Pay Anyone app is available for download on the Apple and Google Play mobile app stores. With the app, customers can simply scan QR codes at participating merchants’ NETS terminals to pay for their purchases directly from their OCBC Bank account.

From June 1, OCBC Bank customers can pay for purchases at more than 1,000 merchants including Robinsons, Zara, Marks & Spencer, Gap, Paradise Classic restaurants, Caltex stations and Gardens by the Bay by scanning the QR codes on the NETS terminal or printed receipt using the OCBC Pay Anyone app.

After authenticating the transaction securely with a fingerprint, the payment is immediately deducted from the customer’s OCBC Bank account and paid to the merchant through NETS. This is unlike mobile wallets which require additional steps to top up the mobile wallet using a bank account. By the end of the year, customers will be able to make QR code payments at more than 50,000 NETS terminals islandwide, the bank said.

Mr Pranav Seth, OCBC Bank’s Head of E-Business, Business Transformation and Fintech and Innovation Group, said: “It’s a war on cash! OCBC Pay Anyone has been a favourite payment service among our customers, who have embraced the movement away from cash and increasingly adopted paying other individuals using just phone numbers.”

“The launch of QR code cashless payment adds to the suite of OCBC Pay Anyone e-payment services. I believe the pick-up of QR code cashless payments will be strong given the increasing acceptance rate of cashless payments in general over the years. We will continue to push the boundaries in mobile payments and move the needle in becoming a cashless society,” he added.

Launched in 2014, OCBC Pay Anyone lets customers send money directly to any bank account in Singapore using just the recipient’s mobile number, email address or Facebook account – without having to perform transaction signing using a security token or add the recipient as a payee. Since last September, the daily transfer limit on OCBC Pay Anyone has been increased to S$1,000 from S$100, allowing payments for bigger-ticket purchases.