Older Singaporeans are embracing e-payments, and the 4,000 CPF withdrawals by CPF members aged 55 and above in just over three months from March 26 to June 30 is testament to that.
The withdrawals totaled over $40 million, OCBC said in a press statement on Monday, July 30.
The CPF Board was the first government agency to adopt PayNow by leveraging OCBC Bank’s Application Programming Interface (API).
Eligible CPF members simply need to link their Singapore NRIC to bank accounts from any of the nine PayNow participating banks. They can then log in to my cpf Online Services using their SingPass and submit a withdrawal application. The money will be deposited in their bank account within a day, compared to the previous turnaround time of five working days via GIRO.
Mr. Bernard Liew, who had previously never used PayNow for a transaction, said "I got the money in my bank account pretty much instantly after submitting my withdrawal request to CPF. For people who may need the money urgently, this would be very useful."
There was always a concern over whether the silver segment could adapt smoothly to a cashless and increasingly digital society. Initiatives such as the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s (IMDA) e-Payment learning Journey have been rolled out to tackle this issue.
"CPF Board strives to leverage technology to serve our CPF members better," said Mr Wong Yan Jun, Chief Digital Services Officer, CPF Board. "By adopting PayNow as a new additional payment mode, eligible members who are 55 and above can withdraw their CPF savings in an easy and expeditious way. Through this initiative, we hope to provide members with a more customer-centric experience when they transact with us."
PayNow will be extended to businesses in August 2018 with the launch of PayNow Corporate. This is the next milestone in Singapore’s e-payments push.
"This is the first time that PayNow has been used for on-demand payment by a government agency," said Mr Melvyn Low, Head, Global Transaction Banking, OCBC Bank. "Its success bodes well for the imminent roll out of PayNow Corporate and for Singapore’s ambitions of going cheque-free by 2025. Over the next three years, we hope to see a 40 percent drop in corporate cheque payments by our business banking customers."