OCBC enables QR code fund transfers

The service is available through PayNow.

OCBC Bank's Pay Anyone app now enables customers to send and ask for money using QR codes. PayNow did away with the need to know bank account numbers and “adding payees” when making funds transfers.

The transfers are made directly from the payer’s account to the payee’s account: Unlike with some mobile wallets, no additional steps are required to top up the wallet using a bank account, or transfer funds from a wallet to a bank account.

PayNow-registered customers, through the OCBC Pay Anyone mobile app, can now create and send personalised QR codes to other OCBC Pay Anyone users via social networking apps or email when requesting payment. Alternatively, the payer can instantly scan a QR code displayed on the payee’s phone to complete payment. The daily transfer limit for payers is $1,000.

QR code payments via the OCBC Pay Anyone app are completely seamless and frictionless as authentication is very quick, using just the payee’s and payer’s fingerprints.

There is no need to exchange mobile or NRIC numbers which is a boon for peer-to-peer e-commerce, where sellers and buyers may not want to exchange personal information but would just meet up to make payment and hand over the goods.

Payees can now simply create a QR code, which would specify the amount to be paid, and send it via the e-commerce platform or social media for the payer to scan and pay. Alternatively, a payee can meet the payer and have the latter scan the QR code directly on a mobile device to make immediate payment.

Here's more from OCBC:

With this latest QR code innovation, OCBC Bank is further accelerating the adoption of PayNow. Since PayNow was launched on 10 July, close to 100,000 people have linked their mobile or NRIC numbers to their personal OCBC Bank account to facilitate instant account-to-account transfers via FAST. These 100,000 PayNow subscribers will now have the additional option of making peer-to-peer payments via QR code using the OCBC Pay Anyone app.

Peer-to-peer QR code payment is the latest in a series of OCBC Pay Anyone enhancements rolled out in the past months. Launched in 2014, OCBC Pay Anyone was the first mobile payment service offered in Singapore that let customers send money directly to any bank account in Singapore using just the recipient’s mobile number, email address or Facebook account – without having to perform transaction signing using a security token or to add the recipient as a “payee”. OCBC Bank launched a new standalone OCBC Pay Anyone app in May this year, which has brought together all OCBC Pay Anyone services and enhancements: Peer-to-peer QR code payments, QR code payments to NETS merchants, peer-to-peer e-payments and integration of OCBC Pay Anyone with Apple iPhone’s Siri and iMessage.