Apple Pay reached its sixth country last month when American Express extended it to customers in Singapore, and now banks issuing MasterCard and Visa products are adding its support as well.
MasterCard is working with five local banks that support Apple Pay, including DBS, OCBC, POSB, Standard Chartered, and UOB, according to a May 24 press release.
Visa supports Apple Pay through several of the same banks, according to Apple Inc., and Samsung has said it will roll out its mobile wallet in Singapore next month.
Apple Pay, which launched 18 months ago in the U.S., is also available in
One in four consumers in Singapore are interested in using a digital wallet, up from one in 20 three years ago, according to MasterCard research. Singapore consumers also rank third among Asians in digital wallet adoption, MasterCard said.
"The biggest change we’ve seen in the payments space recently is the transformation of every electronic device into a shopping device, from mobile phones to watches," said Deborah Heng, group head and general manager for MasterCard Singapore, in the release.
According to reports, close to 30,000 retail locations in Singapore are NFC-enabled, which is driving broader development of contactless payments development in the region.
Wirecard Group’s Singapore division on May 24 announced a collaboration with Network for Electronic Transfers in Singapore enabling Singapore’s government agencies, including public transportation providers, to accept contactless payments.
The move means Singapore consumers will be able to use contactless cards to tap and pay on all public buses, some taxi services, toll roads and some parking services, according to a press release from Munich-based Wirecard.
"This is definitely a step in the right direction to make cashless payment even more pervasive in Singapore," said Jeffry Ho, managing director for Wirecard in Singapore.
