DBS, Liquid Group are Singapore participants in cross-border transactions: Singapore's central bank

As India and Singapore on Tuesday linked their respective online payments systems -- Unified Payments Interface (UPI) of India and PayNow of Singapore -- for cross-border transactions between the two countries, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said the Singapore participants are DBS and Liquid Group while participants from India are Axis Bank, DBS India, ICICI Bank, Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and State Bank of India.

The statement from MAS said Liquid Group is the first non-bank financial institution to participate in Singapore's cross-border real-time payment system linkage via its LiquidPay e-wallet.

A Singapore PayNow user sending money to India will need to key in the recipient's registered UPI identity. An India UPI user sending money to Singapore will need to key in the recipient's registered PayNow mobile number or VPA, according to MAS.

The service will be rolled out progressively to DBS Bank and Liquid Group's customer base, with their full customer base able to use the service by March 31, 2023. At launch, selected DBS customers will be able to transfer funds of up to Singapore dollar (SGD) 200 per transaction, capped at SGD 500 per day. By March 31, 2023, this service will be available to all DBS customers, where they may transfer funds of up to SGD 1,000. According to MAS, this initiative is to support DBS' customer base to familiarise customers with the service.

Participating financial institutions have committed to ensuring that the service is cost-efficient and accessible, including to foreign workers and students residing in Singapore andIndia, enabling them to make and receive low-cost cross-border remittances back to and fromtheir home countries, MAS said, adding that the linkage also provides for the automatic incorporation of capital control rules for enhanced efficiency.

MAS and RBI will review and progressively scale the linkage by increasing the number of participating financial institutions, as well as applicable use cases.

India and Singapore on Tuesday linked their respective online payments systems for seamless cross-border transactions between the two countries. On this occasion, Singaporean High Commissioner to India Simon Wong Wie Kuen on Tuesday said this collaboration would take bilateral relations to greater heights and his country looks forward to continuing to be part of India's digital transformation journey.

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) of India and PayNow of Singapore have been linked earlier today at a virtual event, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong.

"As India's 1st first cross-border real-time payment partner, this milestone initiative reflects the deep trust between both countries and will take bilateral relations to even greater heights. We look forward to continue to be part of India's digital transformation journey," the envoy said in a tweet.

( With inputs from ANI )