Network for Electronic Transfers (NETS), a nationwide payment provider in Singapore, has announced plans to launch an e-payment app named NETS Pay in October 2017.
The NETS Pay app is expected to work like Apple Pay or Android Pay authentication wise, but will be able to accept not just credit or debit cards, but NETS ATM cards too. The product is targeted at consumers who are either too young to own a credit card or do not wish to own one.
NETS Pay will allow consumers to store a virtual version of their NETS ATM bank card in their mobile phones, which can then be used at merchants that accept the service. Consumers can pay by either scanning a QR code or tapping their device on NETS payment terminals.
The service will initially launch with first one bank partner, and the remaining partner banks will come onboard weeks later. NETS’s six partner banks are DBS, OCBC, UOB, HSBC, Maybank and Standard Chartered.
NETS is also rolling out support for wearables, such as Android-based smartwatches, which will allow users to tap their devices to make payments on NETS terminals.
NETS is working to equip its 100,000 acceptance points in Singapore with digital payment capabilities by year-end.
Although NETS has to date dealt largely in the local payments scene, the mobile wallet will be equipped for use outside Singapore.
NETS will work with EMVCo, an industry body aimed to promoted interoperability between payment transactions, to ensure NETS Pay will work overseas for credit and debit card transactions.
EMVCo counts American Express, Discover, JCB, Mastercard, UnionPay and Visa among its members.