NETS announces SGQR+ islandwide rollout, following the success of SGQR+ Proof of Concept
dtcpay, MariBank and Maybank join SGQR+ scheme, bringing total payment schemes and issuers to 18
Singapore, 7 November 2024 – Network for Electronic Transfers (NETS), Singapore’s leading payment services group, announced today its rollout plans for the interoperable Singapore Quick Response Code Scheme (SGQR+). Following the successful launch of SGQR+ proof of concept (POC) in November last year, the scheme will now be available across 24,000 acceptance points islandwide. SGQR+ issuers’ wallets will also be extended to the hawker segment, bringing the total acceptance points to over 35,000.
In the upcoming commercial rollout, NETS will offer the master acquirer track, which is modelled after the successful Hawkers Go Digital model. NETS will facilitate QR payments through a single SGQR QR label within the food & beverage and retail sectors and aims to grow the number of acceptance points by 10 per cent year-on-year. The islandwide rollout will also see three issuers, dtcpay, MariBank and Maybank coming on board.
Customers will be able to scan the SGQR QR label displayed at merchants and make payment through their wallets or banking apps at approximately 16,500 participating merchants which include Arnold’s Fried Chicken, Twelve Cupcakes and ZooMoov.
Mr Lawrence Chan, Group CEO of NETS remarked, “NETS is privileged to play a role in facilitating QR interoperability in Singapore. The SGQR+ POC project is a milestone for digital transactions in Singapore, making it more convenient for merchants to accept more payment schemes through NETS. With NETS, each merchant only needs one commercial arrangement to accept payments from multiple domestic and inbound payment options. It also gives them access to a wider customer base and allows both merchants and consumers to transact more easily, efficiently and safely.”
The technical ‘live’ for SGQR+ will be completed by Q4 2024, enabling customers of existing issuers, including Maybank, which has newly onboarded NETS Scan and Pay to be able to pay at participating merchants. Customers of dtcpay and MariBank will be able to do so by Q2 2025.
Today, SGQR already supports cross-border payments for China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. As more cross-border QR linkages get established, SGQR+ holds further potential for integration with various payment schemes regionally, broadening consumer options and enhancing network connectivity.
“SGQR+ has greatly helped us to be more efficient by simplifying the payment process and enabling us to serve a wider range of customers, both locally and internationally. We can now accept multiple payment options with just one streamlined system. This enhanced efficiency not only reduces our operational burden but also provides a seamless experience for our customers, empowering us to grow in a digital-first economy,” said Mr Miguel Pereira Tanco, Director of ZooMoov Pte Ltd.
“Our partnership with NETS on SGQR+ represents a significant step forward in providing our users with unparalleled flexibility and convenience. By enabling consumers to spend their digital assets effortlessly, we hope to strengthen engagement within the local merchant ecosystem while enhancing the overall customer experience,” said Ms Alice Liu, CEO and Co-Founder of dtcpay.
SGQR+ POC
SGQR was introduced in 2018 by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to combine multiple payment QR codes into a single SGQR label to make it easy for merchants to accept payments digitally. However, merchants that wish to accept a range of payment schemes have to maintain commercial relationships with different financial institutions and the acceptance of payment schemes was not uniform across merchants.
MAS launched the SGQR+ POC in November last year with the aim of enhancing the SGQR experience through enabling interoperability for QR payment schemes. With SGQR+, merchants in Singapore will be able to accept QR payments from a variety of payment schemes and consolidate all payment needs with a single merchant acquirer, thus reducing the complexity of managing multiple acquirer relationships and unifying the reconciliation processes. The enhancements of the SGQR+ include greater integration capabilities, faster transaction speeds and more seamless user experiences.
In the post-POC report issued by MAS, 75 per cent of the participating POC merchants indicated an interest in continuing participation in SGQR+ whilst 86 per cent of financial institutions agreed it was easy to integrate into the POC track they participated in, indicating a positive user experience.
Carried out through two different tracks, one of which was led by NETS, the POC which took place from 1 to 30 November 2023 alongside SFF 2023 saw SGQR+ available through over 1,000 merchant acceptance points within the Changi district.
During the period, there was an increase in the number of accepted payment schemes per participating merchant from an average of three to 12 payment schemes. The POC also achieved growth in adoption, as reflected in an increase of 93.9 per cent in transaction volume for the top ten participating merchants with the highest POC transactions as compared to the preceding month.
The SGQR+ Proof of Concept Report, authored by Banking Computer Services, a subsidiary of NETS and supported by MAS, is available for download.
