4 top digital payments players disrupting finance in Singapore

By Edil Corneille

Singapore is no exception to other countries when it comes to experiencing a rise in digital payments. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought most of the population online who have become familiarised to conducting transactions digitally.

According to Statista, in Singapore, the total transaction value in the digital payments segment is projected to reach USD 11,200 million in 2021 and the total transaction value is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2021-2025) of 22.7 per cent resulting in a projected total amount of USD 25,368 million by 2025.

Mentioned below are 4 players in the digital payments space who are transforming the way payments are being made in Singapore.

1. 2C2P

2C2P is a full-suite payments platform helping companies process different payment options securely and quickly. 2C2P is headquartered in Singapore and Bangkok. Its team has grown rapidly and now the company has over 400 team members across 10 markets in Asia and Europe. 2C2P has aggregated international and local payment providers, card schemes, and financial institutions onto its platform so that customers can have access to every payment option with one point of integration.

Currently, 2C2P is a payments platform helping global businesses accept payments from over 620 million customers.

In December 2020, 2C2P announced the expansion of its regional remittance platform, easy2send, to include a new real-time remittance corridor from Thailand to Singapore. In collaboration with Nium, a global FinTech infrastructure platform, and Ripple, the enterprise blockchain solution for global payments, this combination of expertise is expected to enable Thais and Singaporeans to experience a convenient, affordable, secure and instant money transfer service from Thailand to Singapore.

2. CardUp

CardUp is a credit card enablement platform that brings value to individuals and businesses by improving the way they pay and get paid, access credit and manage payments.

The company started by allowing any big expense previously made by bank transfer, cheque or cash to be shifted to a card, even where cards are not accepted. Examples include rent to a landlord, insurance premiums, payroll, and supplier invoices, among others. CardUp has since gone on to launch merchant card solutions, card enablement and payment automation tools that help SMEs automate finance processes.

CardUp manages hundreds of millions of dollars in payment volume. As of 2020, CardUp operates in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. CardUp is licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) as a Major Payment Institution under the Payment Services Act.

3. FOMO Pay

FOMO Pay is a one-stop mobile payment processing solution which enables merchants and banks to accept a full suite of payment methods including NETSPay, mVISA, Grab Pay, WeChat Pay, Singtel Dash, RazerPay, etc.

Launched in 2015 with more than 7,000 merchants acquired within a year, FOMO Pay is trusted by companies including SPH, Marina Bay Sands, StarHub, JUMBO, Club 21, CHANEL, etc. With FOMO Pay, it is said that merchants can unlock true business potential by giving customers the payment options they prefer and adopt cashless payment easily. FOMO Pay is also sitting in MAS SGQR Taskforce to promote QR code payment and make Singapore a cashless society.

In April 2020, the digital payment and digital banking solution provider, FOMO Pay, partnered with OCBC Bank (Malaysia) to develop OCBC OneCollect as its first merchant cross-border QRcode collection service project. The project followed the opening of FOMO Pay’s new office in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur.

4. Liquid Group

Liquid Group is a regional mobile payment services group based out of Singapore. It operates a regional payment acceptance network to enable cross-border QR payment acceptance services for e-wallets operators, banks and merchants. Liquid Group provides white-label solutions to accelerate the development and adoption of mobile payments for its business partners.

In October 2020, Liquid Group’s partnership with PayME as its merchant acquirer in Vietnam was announced. Through the partnership, customers of Liquid Group and its issuer partners are enabled to use their preferred payment apps and e-wallets for their local and overseas QR payment transactions with merchants from PayME’s network in Vietnam, starting with cities like Ho Chi Minh, Ha Noi, Danang, Nha Trang.

Liquid Group also has its presence in Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. Its compliance programme on anti-money laundering, countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), sanctions, and other financial crimes seek to ensure that these related risks identified by Liquid Group are appropriately addressed and mitigated, where required, such that it conducts business activities with partners within a safe environment.

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