The Singapore Government has long recognised the urgent need for the development of contactless payment, especially since the advent of Covid-19. As such, most Singaporeans should already be familiar with the concept by now, and especially with PayNow, a payment system that allows individuals to transfer funds to each other remotely, using one’s NRIC number or mobile number.

There is also PayNow Corporate, which extends the use of PayNow to entities such as businesses, Singapore Government agencies, associations, and societies.

PayNow Corporate enables these entities to pay and receive funds instantaneously by linking their Unique Entity Number (UEN) issued in Singapore to their Singapore bank account. They do not need to know the bank and account number of other entities when transferring funds.

Why use PayNow Corporate?

The first advantage is clearly convenience. An entity no longer requires its customers to input lengthy bank account or business transaction details; they only require the aforementioned UEN or the PayNow QR code that the entity can generate after registering for the service, making payment that much faster and convenient.

In addition, PayNow payments are also more affordable for the company in terms of the transaction fees that a bank will charge. In fact, many of the banks which provide this service have either waived the fees for these transactions, or have made them entirely free. If you are a business, you would most likely prefer your consumers to make payment via PayNow than their credit card (which incurs transaction fees) or cheque (likelihood of getting bounced).

PayNow Corporate charges

PayNow Corporate is provided by eleven PayNow participating banks and three participating Non-bank financial Institutions (NFIs). These are: Bank of China, Citibank Singapore, DBS / POSB Bank, HSBC, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited, JP Morgan, Maybank, OCBC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, UOB, GrabPay, LiquidPay, and Singtel Dash.

A breakdown of the charges currently* levied by some of the banks are as follows:

*Accurate as of Aug 2023

Do note that some banks do charge a nominal sum of money for registering a SGQR code. But this is a one-time fee and a QR code (most prevalent usage is for retail and F&B establishment) while offering even greater convenience, is by no means essential to the usage of PayNow Corporate.

What is PayNow VPA?

PayNow Virtual Payment Address (VPA) is a new proxy which helps individuals distinguish between PayNow registrations that are linked to bank accounts, from those linked to NFI e-wallets. VPA allows individuals to link their mobile number with an NFI e-wallet, while keeping their existing PayNow registration that is linked to a bank account.

The VPA will always have the following format:

•         Grab user: +(Country Code)(mobile number)#GRAB. For example, +6591234567#GRAB

•         Liquid user: +(Country Code)(mobile number)#XNAP. For example, +6591234567#XNAP

•         Singtel Dash user: +(Country Code)(mobile number)#DASH. For example, +6591234567#DASH

Is PayNow Corporate safe to use?

The end-to-end process of a PayNow transaction adopts the same security standards established by the banking industry in Singapore for other forms of funds transfer.

The proxies (NRIC, Mobile Number and UEN) that can be used in PayNow are information saved by the banks when the account is being set up. An attempt to use someone else’s NRIC as a proxy for one’s own bank account will be rejected. The verification page also helps to create a second layer check where the sender can see the recipient’s name before confirming the transfer. This provides assurance to customers that the funds are being sent to the intended party. Notifications will also be sent from the bank to both the sender and receiver that the funds have been successfully transferred.

How to use PayNow Corporate?

Entities will need to register for this service online at their bank’s banking platform. Access to PayNow will also be through participating bank’s or NFI’s existing Internet banking platform or mobile app. Beyond that, usage will be the same as how individuals would use PayNow.

The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) has very helpfully created a few videos:

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