OCBC (Malaysia) Bhd has rolled out OCBC OneCollect, Malaysia’s first merchant cross-border quick response code (QR code) collection service. Through this service, those who use the mobile app of banks participating in Singapore’s PayNow ecosystem can now make QR payments to OCBC merchants in Malaysia from their Singaporean bank accounts.

Singapore’s PayNow is essentially the equivalent of Malaysia’s DuitNow. Both PayNow and DuitNow are inter-bank money transfer services that link your bank account with a more commonly used identification number instead of your bank account number. These could be your IC number, mobile phone number, business registration number, and so on.

OCBC OneCollect will benefit both Singaporeans visitors and Malaysian merchants as it offers a more seamless and safer cashless payment option.

“As an example, when someone from Singapore purchases durians from a shop in Johor and wishes to make payment, they can do so seamlessly from their own bank accounts directly through the OCBC OneCollect QR without having to go through the fuss of changing their currency beforehand,” said the managing director and head of global transaction banking of OCBC Bank, Chong Lee Ying. He added that Singaporean buyers can expect the currency conversion rates applied to their purchases to be as good as those offered at money changers, if not better.

On the part of Malaysian merchants, they will not have to open a foreign currency account to receive payment from the Singaporean buyers. Instead, they will get their settlement in the local currency. Additionally, merchants can expect to receive their payment within two working days after the transaction is completed. This is much faster compared to other cross-border settlement options, which may take up to 14 days, thereby reducing currency exchange risks and fluctuations.

Chong added that OCBC OneCollect will likely benefit Malaysian businesses that operate in high volumes of low-value transactions. This includes those in retail, health and wellness, as well as food and beverages.

According to OCBC Malaysia, the bank will first focus on selected merchants in Melaka and Johor before expanding in the second quarter of the year. It also plans to grow its existing pool of 3,000 merchants in Malaysia to 10,000 by 2021 by enhancing the OCBC OneCollect service at a later stage.

While OCBC OneCollect may be the first cross-border QR code collection service between Malaysia and Singapore, it is not the first payment option to offer a cross-border function. At the end of last year, Malaysia’s PayNet and Singapore’s NETS had collaborated in an effort that lets that enables citizens from both countries to make cross-border payments with their ATM cards.

(Source: The Star)

• TAGS:
• Chong Lee Ying
• DuitNow
• OCBC
• OCBC Bank
• OCBC OneCollect
• OCBC OneCollect QR
• PayNow