Singapore’s monetary authority and banking industry body have jointly unveiled a study charting four priority upgrades to the country’s national PayNow instant payments system, signaling the most substantive rethink of the platform since its launch nearly a decade ago. Announced at the ABS Annual Dinner on June 25, 2026, the PayNow Generation 2 initiative sets out a phased roadmap that extends PayNow’s reach into merchant QR interoperability, online checkout, large-value public sector transactions, and next-generation capabilities including agentic commerce and automated reconciliation.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Association of Banks in Singapore announced on June 25, 2026 a structured study and pilot program to enhance Singapore’s PayNow instant payment infrastructure under a PayNow Generation 2 framework, covering four upgrade areas with pilots expected to begin by end-2026.
Key Facts At A Glance
- Announced at the ABS Annual Dinner on June 25, 2026 by Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, Chairman of MAS, and ABS Chairman Tan Teck Long
- PayNow has more than 11 million proxy registrations as of December 2025, used by more than 9 in 10 Singaporeans and approximately 350,000 business entities
- Four enhancement areas identified: QR interoperability between PayNow and NETS, deep-linked online checkout, larger-value public sector transactions, and expanded payment capabilities
- QR interoperability pilot between PayNow and NETS targeted for completion by end-2026
- Deep-linking for online checkout targeted for readiness within one year of the announcement
- Larger-value public sector PayNow sandbox with government agencies to commence in 2027, with foundational work beginning in 2026
- Implementation roadmap to be published by MAS and ABS by end-2026
- Study findings based on consultations with 37 organizations and benchmarking against 11 jurisdictions including Australia, China, the UK, Malaysia, and Thailand
Singapore’s Instant Payments Platform Approaches A Decade Of Operation
PayNow launched in 2017 as a central addressing scheme built on Singapore’s existing FAST infrastructure, allowing individuals and businesses to transfer Singapore dollar funds using mobile numbers, NRIC numbers, or Unique Entity Numbers. In the years since, the platform has become foundational to retail and corporate payments in Singapore, achieving what the MAS and ABS described as near-universal adoption among individuals and a growing base of business and government users.
By December 2025, PayNow had recorded more than 11 million proxy registrations and was used by more than 9 in 10 Singaporeans and approximately 350,000 business entities. The MAS has expanded PayNow’s cross-border reach through bilateral linkages with PromptPay in Thailand, DuitNow in Malaysia, UPI in India, and other regional payment systems. Despite this progress, the underlying architecture and feature set of PayNow have not undergone a comprehensive review since its inception.
The PayNow Generation 2 study, which produced its Phase 1 findings in a report published alongside the June 25 announcement, reflects a recognition by MAS and ABS that new payment demands have emerged across consumers, merchants, businesses, and government agencies that the current system does not fully address.
Four Priority Enhancement Areas
The first enhancement targets QR code interoperability between PayNow and NETS, two separate QR payment schemes that currently operate in parallel without mutual compatibility. Under the existing setup, not all banking apps or wallets can scan a NETS QR code, and the NETS app cannot scan and pay to a PayNow QR code. Merchants are acquired by either a PayNow bank or NETS, creating friction for consumers who may encounter a merchant QR code incompatible with their preferred payment app. MAS and ABS aim to pilot interoperability between the two schemes by end-2026, allowing consumers to scan and pay at any merchant regardless of the scheme the merchant uses.
The second enhancement focuses on the online checkout experience. Currently, completing a PayNow payment online requires a consumer to save the QR code, switch to a banking app to upload and complete the payment, and then return to the merchant website. MAS and ABS plan to introduce deep-linking within PayNow QR codes to reduce the number of steps required and make the checkout flow more continuous. The target is to have this capability ready within a year of the announcement.
The third enhancement addresses larger-value public sector transactions. At present, payments to government agencies for amounts above certain thresholds are processed via GIRO, which requires pre-registration and can take up to three business days to process. MAS and ABS plan to sandbox the use of PayNow for larger-value government agency transactions, with the sandbox expected to commence with government agencies in 2027. Foundational infrastructure work is to begin in 2026.
The fourth area covers expanded payment capabilities, which is the most forward-looking component of the study. Functionalities under this category include request-to-pay, structured data fields for automated reconciliation, a micropayments rail, expanded cross-border connectivity, offline payment capabilities, and features to support what MAS described as agentic commerce. MAS and ABS noted that specific functionalities for this category will be scoped in Phase 2 of the study.
Industry And Government Positioning
Speaking at the ABS Annual Dinner, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong framed the initiative as part of Singapore’s broader positioning as a trusted financial connector. “PayNow Generation 2 is about ensuring Singapore’s national payment schemes and rails are fit for purpose and ready for the future,” Gan said. He added that foundational work would commence this year to ensure the infrastructure is ready for how commerce will operate going forward.
Tan Teck Long, Group Chief Executive Officer of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation and Chairman of ABS, noted that PayNow had grown into a widely adopted and trusted real-time payment platform. The Phase 1 report was developed in consultation with 37 organizations and informed by benchmarking against payment systems in 11 jurisdictions, including UPI in India, PIX in Brazil, and real-time payment systems in the UK, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Infrastructure And Competitive Context
The Phase 1 findings, which include detailed analysis of user journeys across consumer, merchant, business, and government segments, are intended to guide the priority-setting exercise that will take place in Phase 2. MAS and ABS have committed to publishing an implementation roadmap by end-2026.
The timing of the PayNow Gen2 announcement coincides with broader regional investment in payment infrastructure upgrades. Singapore’s PayNow is already a participant in the Nexus multilateral payment connectivity framework, which is intended to connect national instant payment systems across multiple jurisdictions. The Gen2 study’s mention of expanded cross-border connectivity in the fourth category suggests continued alignment with that multilateral agenda.
The inclusion of agentic commerce as a forward-looking capability area is also notable given the broader industry conversation around AI-driven autonomous payments. The Phase 1 report’s reference to features that would support intelligent and data-rich payment experiences reflects a regulatory acknowledgment that the infrastructure underpinning Singapore’s national payment system may need to accommodate non-human transaction actors in the coming years.