The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Bank Negara Malaysia have officially launched a new real-time payment system linkage between Singapore’s PayNow and Malaysia’s DuitNow on November 17. This initiative enables consumers from participating financial institutions in both countries to send and receive funds of up to S$1,000 or RM3,000 daily using their mobile numbers or virtual payment addresses.

Initially, the service will be available to customers of Liquid Group, Maybank Singapore, OCBC, and UOB in Singapore, implemented through a phased approach. The participating banks plan to progressively increase the number of eligible user groups from today until the end of January 2024.

In Malaysia, the service will first be accessible to users of CIMB, Maybank, and TNG Digital. Other financial institutions will be gradually onboarded to this service in the following months, as confirmed by the central bank.

This announcement builds on a previous initiative from March, which introduced QR payment linkages allowing users to make payments by scanning either Nets or DuitNow QR codes at merchants.

Ravi Menon, managing director of MAS, remarked that the PayNow-DuitNow linkage fulfills a shared aspiration between Singapore and Malaysia to enhance cross-border payments. He emphasized that this development is a significant step toward achieving Asean’s vision for regional payments interconnectivity.

As financial transactions become increasingly digital, this linkage aims to streamline processes and promote seamless monetary exchanges between the two neighboring countries. This is expected to bolster economic ties and provide greater convenience for users engaging in cross-border commerce.