Financial Authority of Singapore Requests Residents to make use of E-Hongbao, a Digital Crimson Packet for Gifting Throughout Lunar New 12 months

The 2021 Lunar New 12 months is approaching and authorities in Southeast Asia at the moment are encouraging locals to show to digital purple packets and on-line transactions, as a substitute of utilizing paper foreign money notes (with a view to stop the additional unfold of COVID-19).

Asian residents are additionally being requested to finish digital funds and use digital purple packets instead that’s extra environmentally pleasant and which is of much more relevance in a post-COVID world.

Now with the Lunar 12 months just a few days away, the Financial Authority of Singapore (MAS) has been requesting the city-state’s residents to make use of “e-hongbao” with a view to assist scale back lengthy ready strains for bodily payments and since they’re much more climate-friendly. The MAS famous that round 330 tons of carbon emissions are produced because of the printing of recent notes each Lunar New 12 months.

An e-hongbao is a digital or digital purple packet the place transfers are carried out by the scanning of QR codes or via an digital funds switch. Identical to a bodily purple envelope, an e-hongbao is available in varied designs together with customizable greetings and graphics (relying on the customers’ banking supplier).

In Singapore, the entire massive banking establishments, together with DBS Financial institution, OCBC Financial institution, UOB, Citibank, Commonplace Chartered Financial institution and Maybank, will reportedly be offering digital purple packets this yr in order that it turns into simpler to watch social distancing necessities throughout these troublesome occasions.

The performance will run on PayNow, which is a peer to look fund switch service in Singapore that’s out there to 9 native banks. It permits prospects to ship and obtain Singapore greenback or SGD funds from one financial institution to a different (close to) immediately utilizing their cell quantity or a Singapore nationwide registration identification card (NRIC) or quantity/international identification quantity (FIN).

Throughout this end-of-the-year festivities, banking shoppers of those monetary service suppliers could have the choice to ship digital purple packets through PayNow and likewise add a particular Lunar New 12 months greeting for recipients to obtain via their Whatsapp or SMS transaction notifications.

Shoppers of sure native banks may even have the choice to incorporate specially-designed festive graphics that could be despatched together with these greetings.

DBS Financial institution is offering two major choices to shoppers in 2021: the DBS QR Reward (additionally known as the QR Hong Bao), and the eGift. Though the eGift presents a totally digital expertise, the DBS QR Reward, which permits shoppers to mortgage money values onto distinctive QR codes, has been designed to strike a stability between custom and fashionable expertise. At current, the DBS QR Reward is the city-state’s solely “phygital” various to common gifting.

UOB shoppers may even have the choice to ship e-hongbaos “immediately” and conveniently through tjhe UOB Mighty app (out there via PayNow or QR Pay).

Though the vast majority of massive banking establishments in Singapore are providing e-hongbao functionalities, plainly not one of the city-state’s non-bank cell wallets, reminiscent of GrabPay, FavePay and EZ-Hyperlink Pockets are providing an identical choice.

At current, the Southeast Asian nation is within the third part of its reopening following the COVID-19 outbreak, below which social conferences of as much as eight individuals are permitted.