CPF withdrawals via PayNow hit $40m in 3 months: OCBC

Processing for bank deposits can be shortened by 4 days through PayNow.

Central Provident Fund (CPF) members used PayNow withdrawals 4,000 times which reached $40m since the medium’s option became available in March, OCBC revealed.

Bernard Liew, whose first PayNow transaction is his withdrawal request to CPF, said that he got the money from his account instantly.

“For people who may need the money urgently, this would be very useful,” Liew said.

OCBC noted that concerns arose on whether the silver population could “adapt smoothly” to the increasingly digital and cashless society. They noted that initiatives such as the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s (IMDA) e-Payment learning Journey have been rolled out to empower seniors to carry out mobile transactions.

“By adopting PayNow as a new additional payment mode, eligible members who are 55 and above can withdraw their CPF savings in an easy and expeditious way,” CPF Board chief digital services officer Wong Yan Jun said.

The CPF Board became the first government agency to adopt PayNow by utilising OCBC Bank’s Application Programming Interface (API).

Eligible members can use the platform by linking their Singapore NRIC to bank accounts from any of the nine PayNow participating banks. After this, they can access their CPF online services using their SingPass and submit a withdrawal application.

Compared to the previous turnaround time of five working days via GIRO, money withdrawals through PayNow will be deposited to users’ bank account within a day.

“Over the next three years, we hope to see a 40 per cent drop in corporate cheque payments by our business banking customers,” OCBC bank head of global transaction banking Melvyn Low commented.