Common QR code will allow you to pay by phone
SINGAPORE — In six months’ time, Singapore will have a common QR code, allowing consumers to pay electronically anywhere just by flashing their smartphones.
A PayNow demonstration. Photo: Prime Minister's Office Singapore
SINGAPORE — In six months’ time, Singapore will have a common QR code, allowing consumers to pay electronically anywhere just by flashing their smartphones.
Such transactions will be made via PayNow, the digital fund transfer system recently launched to allow customers of seven participating banks to send and receive money instantly using their mobile phone number or NRIC/FIN.
The rollout of a common QR code here was revealed by the Smart Nation & Digital Government Office (SNDGO) yesterday, when it listed growing the e-payments landscape here as one of five strategic national projects the Government is focusing on to build a Smart Nation.
It cited an upcoming initiative by the National Environment Agency of Singapore to widen adoption of e-payments at hawker centres.
No details were given on how this will be done.
Over the next six months, the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) will also trial the use of mobile software tokens as “a more convenient and secure authentication service”, the SNDGO said.
Allowing for digital signatures to make transactions paperless will also be trialled progressively, it added.
Plans are for the National Digital Identity system — one of the five strategic national projects — to be operational in three years’ time, and widely adopted two years thereafter.
In terms of work on the Smart Nation Sensor Platform, the SNDGO said the authorities will be testing how estate management can be enhanced through monitoring of noise, water and sewage levels.
In homes, smart water meters will also be trialled. This will be done over one year at Orchard Road and selected housing estates.
One other important project is a digital platform, called Moments of Life, that bundles services and information online from a spread of government agencies for citizens.
It will group the resources by an individual’s life stages, such as when they register a marriage, start a family, and send a child to school.
A draft version will be available by the middle of next year.
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