KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara Malaysia and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have today announced plans to start a phased linkage of Malaysia's DuitNow and Singapore's PayNow real-time payment systems.
In a statement today, Bank Negara said the project would enable more seamless payments for the high volume of remittances between Malaysia and Singapore, which reached RM4.2 billion in 2020.
"It will also cater to travellers between both countries, which saw sizeable pre-pandemic traffic of about 12 million arrivals yearly on average," the central bank added.
Bank Negara assistant governor Fraziali Ismail said by bringing the efficiencies observed in domestic payments to cross-border payments, the DuitNow- PayNow linkage would be a game-changer resulting in faster, cheaper and more accessible payment services for the people of both countries.
"Not only would this initiative further strengthen the economic ties between Malaysia and Singapore, it would also serve as a key enabler to support post-pandemic economic growth," he said.
MAS chief fintech officer Sopnendu Mohanty said the remittance corridor with Malaysia was Singapore's largest remittance corridor.
"Hence, the DuitNow-PayNow linkage will be an important infrastructure to support cross- border payment needs of individuals and businesses, as well as the growing digital economic activity between both countries.
"This will further enhance close bilateral ties," he said.
Bank Negara said the first phase of the DuitNow-PayNow linkage would be launched in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2022.
This will allow customers of participating financial institutions to make real-time fund transfers between Malaysia and Singapore using just a mobile number.
"Customers will also be able to make retail payments by scanning DuitNow or NETS QR codes displayed at merchants' storefronts," it said.
Following the launch, Bank Negara and MAS would progressively expand the DuitNow- PayNow linkage to incorporate a wider range of features and participants.
"Both regulators will also explore the feasibility of integrating innovative features such as distributed ledger technology-based solutions to catalyse greater efficiencies in payments clearing and settlement between participating banks," it said.