I have been writing about the inefficiency and high cost of our payment system for more than ten years. I took issue with the high use of cheques and cash in our business transactions.
Finally, PM Lee raised this issue in the National Day Rally. He should have acted much earlier. He must have been asleep all this while.
Still, it is better late than never. Because he raised this issue, the government agencies are moving double quick to implement cashless payments.
It is really worrying that things do not move in Singapore unless the PM says so. How shameful!
We have been trying cashless payments for a long time. We have NETS and POS systems. Vendors find these platforms to be costly to implement. They are reluctant to incur this cost.
Some vendors have to install separate devices to connect to different banks and credit cards. The government tries to introduce an universal terminal, but it still requires separately lines to connect to the different banks. It does not solve the problem or reduce the cost significantly.
A better solution is to have a payment gateway. Each vendor has one device to connect to the gateway. The gateway handles the connection to the different banks.
I hope that the people in charge realize that their solution is not helping to reduce cost much.
Because of the high cost of implementing harware devices and connecting them to the banks, most vendors are reluctant to use cashless payments. But it is the outcome of our bad approach.
We can learn from the experience of China. Their payment using Wechat and Alipay is extremely successful. The vendor does not need to install any hardware device. They accept payments through their smart phones. The customer makes payment using their smart phones.
The two systems are easy to use. Even the elderly people know how to use them. These systems are also cost efficient. The vendors find it convenient to receive payments through the e-wallets. There is a small transaction charge, but it is much cheaper than handling cash.
If we adopt the e-wallet system similar to AliPay or Wechat, it will be well accepted in Singapore. That is the way to go.
Finally, PM Lee raised this issue in the National Day Rally. He should have acted much earlier. He must have been asleep all this while.
Still, it is better late than never. Because he raised this issue, the government agencies are moving double quick to implement cashless payments.
It is really worrying that things do not move in Singapore unless the PM says so. How shameful!
We have been trying cashless payments for a long time. We have NETS and POS systems. Vendors find these platforms to be costly to implement. They are reluctant to incur this cost.
Some vendors have to install separate devices to connect to different banks and credit cards. The government tries to introduce an universal terminal, but it still requires separately lines to connect to the different banks. It does not solve the problem or reduce the cost significantly.
A better solution is to have a payment gateway. Each vendor has one device to connect to the gateway. The gateway handles the connection to the different banks.
I hope that the people in charge realize that their solution is not helping to reduce cost much.
Because of the high cost of implementing harware devices and connecting them to the banks, most vendors are reluctant to use cashless payments. But it is the outcome of our bad approach.
We can learn from the experience of China. Their payment using Wechat and Alipay is extremely successful. The vendor does not need to install any hardware device. They accept payments through their smart phones. The customer makes payment using their smart phones.
The two systems are easy to use. Even the elderly people know how to use them. These systems are also cost efficient. The vendors find it convenient to receive payments through the e-wallets. There is a small transaction charge, but it is much cheaper than handling cash.
If we adopt the e-wallet system similar to AliPay or Wechat, it will be well accepted in Singapore. That is the way to go.
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