Nets Wins Singapore Tender for Unified E-Payment Solution

Nets Wins Singapore Tender for Unified E-Payment Solution

Singapore's electronic payment network Nets won the tender for a joint e-payment solution at food places in Singapore. The initiative aims to bring more convenience to food merchants.

Nets won the tender to become the master acquirer for the e-payment solution for coffee shops, hawker centers, and industrial canteens,  according to a media release by Enterprise Singapore. Under the terms of the appointment, food merchants need to operate at the premises of the government agencies in order to benefit from this initiative.

«In Singapore, about 40 percent of dining occasions take place at coffee shops, hawker centers and canteens. The government is enhancing the dining experience by providing customers with a unified e-payment solution where transactions can be made easily, quickly and securely,» said Ted Tan, deputy chief executive at Enterprise Singapore.

Joint Solution

Enterprise Singapore sought a commercially viable and interoperable e-payment solution for its food centers, as reported earlier by finews.asia. The initiative aims to eliminate the need for multiple payment terminals or quick response (QR) codes, currently a hurdle to a seamless e-payment ecosystem on the island-state.

Diners can use as many as 20 types of payment schemes, including EZ-Link, NETS FlashPay, and other mobile payment applications. The first batch of 10 payment schemes will go live by the end of this year. By August next year, all 20 payment schemes will be readily available through unified touch points.

For merchants, they will be given a terminal for card payments and an SGQR code to accept and process transactions from the 20 payment schemes. The terminal and the SGQR code can be used to process e-payments from both their customers and suppliers, added Tan. 

Attractive MDR and Cash Crediting Cycle

Under the initiative, food merchants at the government agencies will only be charged a merchant discount rate (MDR) of 0.5 percent for monthly payment transactions, instead of the industry average of 2 percent to 5 percent, EDB said. The Singapore government will provide funding support for food merchants who sign up by August 2020, effectively bringing down their MDR to 0 percent. NETS will absorb the cost of the terminal rental fee for merchants.

Payment transactions will be credited directly into the merchant’s bank account within one day after the close of business. Transactions made via internationally accepted credit cards will be credited within two days after close of business. Transaction receipts will be consolidated into a single report by the master acquirer.

Future Milestones

Merchants will be given an option of integrating their e-payment terminal with their point of sales system if required, to better measure sales performance and consumer purchase behavior. 

Over the next two years, the initiative aims to have the solution adopted by 200 coffee shops, 25 hawker centers, and 20 industrial canteens.