GrabPay, Singtel Dash, Liquid Pay customers can now use PayNow to transfer funds between accounts, e-wallets

SINGAPORE — GrabPay, Singtel Dash and Liquid Pay users can now use PayNow to transfer money, marking the first time non-bank financial institutions are offering PayNow, the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) said on Monday (Feb 8).

Users can make or receive transfers between bank accounts and e-wallets, and across e-wallets, the association said.

They may also use their e-wallets to make payments to merchants who accept transfers via PayNow, as non-bank financial institutions progressively roll out this feature throughout this year.

To support these transfers, a new payment proxy called the Virtual Payment Address (VPA) has been introduced. This allows individuals to link their mobile number with an e-wallet, even if it is already linked to a bank account.

Users whose mobile numbers are already linked to a bank account under an existing PayNow registration do not need to de-register their mobile number — the VPA differentiates PayNow registrations that are linked to bank accounts from those linked to e-wallets.

Each VPA consists of the user’s mobile number, including the country code, followed by a hashtag (#) and the name of the e-wallet, such as "+6591234567#GRAB" or "+6591234567#DASH".

Existing PayNow proxies such as mobile numbers, the National Registration Identity Card number or Foreign Identification Number and Unique Entity Numbers can be linked only to bank accounts. VPA can be linked only to e-wallets.

With the addition of Grab Financial Group, Singtel Dash and Liquid Group, there are now 12 participating institutions offering PayNow, including nine banks.

As of Jan 24, there were almost five million PayNow registrations, and more than S$50 billion has been transacted via PayNow since it was launched in July 2017.

In December last year alone, more than S$5.08 billion was transacted using PayNow.

Ride-hailing firm Grab said in a press release on Monday: “We are pleased to announce that starting today, GrabPay Wallet users will progressively be able to enjoy more ways to seamlessly transact with GrabPay as we introduce new features to the GrabPay Wallet.” 

GrabPay users may transfer money from their GrabPay e-wallet to any PayNow account and top up their e-wallet using PayNow.

In response to queries from TODAY, Mr Jeremy Tan, chief executive officer of Liquid Group and co-founder of XNAP Network, said: “We are excited to be one of the three non-bank financial institutions offering PayNow services, and look forward to rolling out more enhanced services in the coming months.”

Liquid Group is a finanical technology firm that specialises in digital payments and corporate payment solutions.

In a statement to TODAY, Mr Arthur Lang, CEO of Singtel’s International Group, said: “We’re pleased to be part of this industry milestone which enables us to further enhance Singtel Dash as an inclusive, everyday app.”

Dash is is an e-wallet by the telecommunications firm, which offers services such as contactless payments for bus and train rides, remittances and shopping.