OCBC Bank customers can pay directly from their bank accounts to anyone registered to PayNow with the Google Pay app

Singapore, 14 April 2020 – OCBC Bank has become the first financial institution to bring Google Pay’s peer-to-peer (P2P) funds transfer service to Singapore. Singapore thereby is the third country aside from the United States and India where this service is available. With the integration of the Google Pay transaction services with OCBC Bank customer accounts, customers have since February 2020 had one more option for P2P transfers and payment for purchases. A flexible and multi-faceted digital payment capability is strategically important for any consumer bank today.

Mr Ching Wei Hong, Head of Global Wealth Management & Consumer Banking at OCBC Bank, said: “OCBC has long been a champion supporting open payment ecosystems and promoting national payment schemes. With this partnership with Google Pay, OCBC customers can choose to pay their friends using Google Pay in addition to OCBC Pay Anyone with their linked OCBC Bank accounts. This is a testament to our partnership-driven strategy that has led us to develop a wide suite of payment solutions. Singaporeans continue to significantly increase their use of PayNow, with more than 70 million transactions worth S$12.16 billion in 2019. We believe that our partnership with Google Pay will continue to help drive this trend in 2020 and beyond. Our robust payments, clearing and settlement infrastructure already enabled us to process digital and mobile payments at scale. We have leveraged our existing capabilities to drive continuous innovation and to regularly launch updates and new solutions

We have long rejected the ‘digital wallet’ approach that requires customers to top up an e-wallet and hold funds in one without earning interest. Instead, we put a lot of effort into developing OCBC Pay Anyone as an open-loop payment system, whereby customers literally ‘pay anyone’ directly from their bank accounts. This in turn became the foundation of a strategy that has led us to develop payment solutions that are seamless, convenient and secured. With Google Pay strengthening it further, we expect to see the continued rise for the adoption rate of digital payments solutions among our customers in Singapore.”

Mr Caesar Sengupta, Vice President of Payments and the Next Billion Users initiatives at Google, said: “We’re excited to have OCBC as our inaugural launch partner for the new Google Pay in Singapore. It was a pleasure working with the team to design and build Google Pay for Singapore so customers can provision their OCBC Bank accounts and leverage the national rails – via PayNow – for transactions. We’re delighted that OCBC shares our mission to make mobile payments simple, helpful and secure.”

OCBC Bank customers can download the Google Pay mobile app onto their iOS or Android™ devices to make instant P2P transactions through PayNow – tapping on funds in their current or savings accounts. Google Pay harnesses PayNow to enable a customer to make real-time money transfers to all contacts who have linked their bank accounts to their mobile numbers.

PayNow bolstered by Google Pay

PayNow enables seamless digital payments directly between customers’ bank accounts. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong urged Singaporeans to increase the usage of e-payments in a National Day Rally speech in 2017, the year PayNow was launched in Singapore and enabled people to make funds transfers using their recipients’ mobile numbers.

With Google Pay enabled across both iOS and Android devices, the launch of Google Pay and its PayNow integration will significantly impact the adoption and usage of PayNow in Singapore. This trend was apparent during one of the biggest holidays celebrated in Singapore – the Lunar New Year. Compared to a year ago, the number of OCBC Bank customers’ PayNow transactions and amounts transacted doubled in the two days before Lunar New Year and the first four days of the festive period.

How to make a funds transfer with Google Pay

Once the Google Pay app has been downloaded, customers need to perform a one-time setup to enable payments via the app.

To perform the one-time setup:

1. Click "Get Started" and tick the box to agree to the app’s Terms of Service
2. Key in a PayNow-linked mobile phone number into the app
3. Enter the one-time password sent and click "Submit"
4. A message will be displayed indicating a successful setup
5. Set up a screen lock. Payments can then only be made when the phone is unlocked.  
6. Note: Android and Google Pay are trademarks of Google LLC
7. The Google Pay P2P service has a daily transfer limit of S$1,000.