OCBC launches standalone mobile payments app

QR code cashless payments are now available at close to 2,500 NETS terminals.

The new standalone OCBC Pay Anyone app brings together all OCBC Pay Anyone services and enhancements – peer-to-peer e-payments, QR code payments and access to OCBC Pay Anyone integrated with Apple iPhone’s Siri and iMessage – into a fast and easy one-stop access to e-payments.

With the app, customers can simply scan QR codes at participating merchants’ NETS terminals to pay for their purchases directly from their OCBC Bank account. Payments through OCBC Pay Anyone have increased exponentially with a tenfold increase in the amounts paid and almost fourfold increase in average monthly transactions since last year.

The OCBC Pay Anyone app is available for download on the Apple and Google Play mobile app stores. From 1 June 2017, an OCBC Bank customer can pay for purchases at more than 1,000 merchants (from Robinsons to Zara, Marks & Spencer, Gap, Paradise Classic restaurants, Caltex stations and Gardens by the Bay) by scanning the QR codes on the NETS terminal or printed receipt using the OCBC Pay Anyone app.

After authenticating the transaction securely with a fingerprint, the payment is immediately deducted from the customer’s OCBC Bank account and paid to the merchant through NETS. This is unlike mobile wallets which require additional steps to top up the mobile wallet using a bank account. By the end of the year, customers will be able to make QR code payments at more than 50,000 NETS terminals island wide.

Mr Pranav Seth, OCBC Bank’s Head of E-Business, Business Transformation and Fintech and Innovation Group, said: “It’s a war on cash! OCBC Pay Anyone has been a favourite payment service among our customers, who have embraced the movement away from cash and increasingly adopted paying other individuals using just phone numbers. OCBC Pay Anyone payment volumes have increased 10 times since May last year. Now, we want to bring the same convenience to paying for your regular shopping and meals using QR codes, so we decided to consolidate all of our OCBC Pay Anyone payment services into a standalone mobile app to bring greater convenience to our customers.

“The launch of QR code cashless payment adds to the suite of OCBC Pay Anyone e-payment services. I believe the pick-up of QR code cashless payments will be strong given the increasing acceptance rate of cashless payments in general over the years. We will continue to push the boundaries in mobile payments and move the needle in becoming a cashless society. We are excited about the new and varied cashless payment options that we will roll out on the OCBC Pay Anyone app.”