Do you know that you can now receive your CPF withdrawal thru PayNow?
Since the scheme was launched in March, close to 4,000 withdrawals amounting to about S$40 million have been made by CPF members aged 55 and above.
This is a clear sign that older Singaporeans are open to trying e-payments despite worries that older Singaporeans might not find it easy to transit into this progressively digitalized society, where bold plans to go cashless have been made.
The CPF Board is the first government agency to have hopped onto the bandwagon and endorsing the use of PayNow. Eligible members only need to go through the very simple process of linking their Singapore NRIC to bank accounts from any of the nine PayNow participating banks—Bank of China, Citibank Singapore Limited, DBS Bank/POSB, HSBC, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited, Maybank, OCBC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, and UOB.
Once done, all they have to do to withdraw their CPF savings is log in to my cpf Online Services using their Singpass and submit a withdrawal application.
It now takes less than half the time needed to process their withdrawal—compared to the previous duration of five working days required via GIRO, the money will be transferred to their bank accounts within a day.
The CPF Board has certainly taken a bold step in adopting such advanced technology, but returns have been great—there is that much more ease in the withdrawal of CPF savings for eligible members.
Singapore’s goal of going cheque-free by 2025 doesn’t seem that much of a stretch anymore, with older Singaporeans displaying such a keen willingness to adopt the use of online financial transaction services.
OCBC’s head of global transaction banking Melvyn Low has expressed that the success of PayNow is a favourable sign for the forthcoming launch of PayNow Corporate, of which they hope to witness a 40 per cent drop in corporate cheque payments by their business banking customers over the next three years.
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