Payments
PayNow QR in Singapore — proxies, UEN codes and the SGQR sticker
PayNow is Singapore's instant transfer service, run by the Association of Banks in Singapore with MAS oversight. A PayNow QR addresses a proxy — mobile number, NRIC/FIN or a company's UEN — while SGQR combines PayNow and other payment schemes into the single unified sticker seen at most counters.
The system
PayNow is Singapore's instant account-to-account transfer service, operated by the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) with Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) oversight, riding the FAST instant-transfer rail. Like its regional siblings PromptPay and DuitNow, it addresses accounts by registered proxy:
| Proxy | Who |
|---|---|
| Mobile number | Individuals |
| NRIC/FIN | Individuals |
| UEN (Unique Entity Number) | Businesses and organisations |
| Virtual payment address | Issued by some banks for sub-accounts |
A PayNow QR encodes that proxy in an EMVCo merchant-presented payload with optional amount and a reference field, ending in the usual CRC16. The payer's app resolves the proxy, displays the registered name, and asks for confirmation — the name check being, as on every merchant-presented scheme, the payer's one real fraud defence.
SGQR — the unified sticker
Singapore's distinctive contribution is SGQR, launched in 2018 and described by MAS as the world's first unified payment QR label. Before it, Singaporean counters had the sticker-per-scheme clutter every fragmented QR market develops. SGQR replaced them with one label containing multiple schemes' payloads in a single EMVCo code — PayNow in one merchant-account template, other participating schemes in theirs. The payer's app scans the one code and picks out the template it understands.
That is a different unification strategy from Indonesia's QRIS: QRIS mandated one scheme format for everyone; SGQR kept the schemes separate but merged their presentation into one code. Both killed the sticker clutter; QRIS went further by making every app pay every code, where SGQR still requires your app to support at least one scheme on the label. The EMVCo template mechanism — ids 26–51 each holding an independent scheme block — is what makes the SGQR approach possible at all.
UEN codes on invoices
The corporate proxy deserves its own mention. Registering a company's UEN as a PayNow proxy means any customer can pay the company knowing only its public registration number — and a PayNow QR carrying the UEN plus an invoice reference makes a Singaporean invoice payable in one scan, with the reference flowing through for reconciliation. B2B use of PayNow-by-UEN is routine in Singapore in a way corporate QR payment still is not in most markets.
Cross-border links
PayNow pioneered instant-system linkage: PayNow–PromptPay with Thailand (2021) was the world's first such bilateral connection, and a UPI–PayNow linkage with India followed in 2023, alongside connections with Malaysia's DuitNow. Participating users pay across borders from their home apps with the operators handling conversion. As ever: participation varies by bank and direction — check your own app, and test small.
Practicalities
Individuals generate their PayNow QR inside their banking app; businesses get SGQR labels through their acquirer. Deployment follows the universal payment-QR rules: ≥ 4–5 cm at counter distance, intact quiet zone, trading name printed large to match the confirmation screen. Decoding your own label with /validate is a reasonable audit — you will see exactly which schemes your SGQR sticker carries.
FAQ
What is the difference between PayNow and SGQR?
PayNow is a payment scheme — instant transfers addressed by proxy. SGQR is a label standard that packs PayNow and other schemes' payloads into one printed code. The sticker on a Singaporean counter is usually an SGQR label containing PayNow among others.
What proxies does PayNow support?
A mobile number or NRIC/FIN for individuals, and the UEN for businesses. The payer's app displays the registered name for confirmation before any money moves.
Can foreigners use PayNow QR codes?
Through linkages, partially. Thailand's PromptPay users (since 2021), India's UPI users (since 2023) and Malaysia's DuitNow users can pay via participating apps. Whether your specific bank participates determines whether it works for you.
Why put a PayNow UEN QR on an invoice?
It makes the invoice payable in one scan with the reference attached — no typed account numbers, instant settlement, automatic reconciliation. Corporate PayNow via UEN is standard practice on Singaporean invoices.
Try it — free, no signup
Related
- QR payment standards compared: UPI, PIX, EPC, EMVCo — UPI uses its own upi:// deep link; PIX, PromptPay, QRIS, DuitNow and PayNow are all EMVCo tag-length-value profiles; EPC uses a twelve-line text block.…
- EMVCo merchant-presented QR — the spec behind PIX, QRIS and PromptPay — The EMVCo MPM spec defines the TLV payload national payment QRs share — two-digit ids and lengths, templates 26-51 for scheme data, CRC16 in field 63.
- PromptPay QR in Thailand — how the national payment code works — PromptPay is Thailand's national payment QR — EMVCo payloads addressing a phone, national ID or e-wallet proxy, readable by every Thai banking app.
- QR codes for invoices — match the code to the customer's rail — EPC for SEPA, PIX for Brazil, UPI for India, QR-bill for Switzerland, a payment link elsewhere. Scheme choice, reference discipline and placement for invoices.