In another step towards a cashless society, NETS has rolled out standardised QR code payments system at Tanjong Pagar Plaza Food Centre today. As a result, customers can now make payments for their meals by scanning a quick response (QR) code with their mobile devices.
For making the payment, a customer simply has to scan the code displayed at the stall before keying in the payment amount. The code can accept payments from different banking apps including DBS' PayLah, OCBC's PayAnyone and UOB's Mighty. Currently, 47 stalls at the food centre accept payments using the QR code, while three stalls have not taken it up.
Indranee Rajah, Senior Minister of State for Law and Finance, who was present at the event said, “Today we’ve got a unique situation. Consumers have too many e-wallets, many financial institutions and organisations have their own e-wallets. But these e-wallets, not all of them are accepted by the variety of point of sales terminals out there. So we have to find a solution that is swift, simple, secure and accessible to all. And here the QR code payment is a tool for this.”
Jeffrey Goh, CEO of NETS, said, “About SGD1 billion in cash-based transactions take place across 6,000 hawker and food stalls in Singapore every year.”
He added, “If Singapore had to make the push towards a cashless society and deliver on the Smart Nation vision, this is an area that needs conversion. (QR codes) are easy to use and relatively simple to deploy.”
Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore, had also announced in his National Day Rally speech last month that efforts are underway to simplify and integrate Singapore’s e-payment systems, including making it available at hawker centres.
