19 September 2018

Maybank Singapore's PayNow-Ready Invoices Simplify Payment Process for SME Business Owners

19 September 2018

Maybank Singapore and Financio, a cloud-based automated accounting software by Asian Business Software Solutions (ABSS), takes their partnership to further heights by offering customers a one-of-a-kind PayNow-ready invoice that has a unique and dynamic PayNow QR Code which embeds the company's UEN, payer name, invoice number and payment amount in each invoice. This empowers business owners to leverage PayNow for more efficient and seamless payment collections from their retail customers with less errors and easy reconciliation on the part of business owners.

Prior to this innovation, business owners typically rely on a generic PayNow QR Code generated through a Business Internet Banking or mobile banking application to collect payments, and on the backend, it can be difficult to identify various payments received as payment reference cannot be captured. The invoices generated by Financio have a unique and dynamic PayNow QR code for each invoice, hence funds received via PayNow can be easily tracked in Maybank's Business Internet Banking, making it simple for customers to update their accounts receivable and track collection status. This also gives comfort to the business owners that besides the banking platforms, PayNow QR Code can be generated without logging in to a banking service constantly.

Businesses such as private schools, tuition and enrichment centres, service subscriptions, insurance companies and all SMEs that serve end consumers will benefit from the PayNow-ready invoices. They can even issue invoices ahead of service or product delivery, and their customers can “Scan & Pay” whenever the goods are delivered. Transactions via PayNow can be conducted anywhere and anytime at the customer's convenience.

Maybank Singapore also drives PayNow adoption rate across its events and promotion platforms, these initiatives include:

• PayNow QR is one of the main payment modes at the upcoming Maybank Global Corporate Responsibility Day charity carnival on 22 September 2018 at the Marina Barrage. Stall merchants will accept PayNow payments from individuals. The funds raised are in support of the President's Challenge 2018. Prior to the event, Maybank's staff purchased carnival coupons and made donations towards President's Challenge using PayNow QR Codes.
• SME owners can look forward to a series of “Power Up” talks organised by Maybank SME Banking. This series is one of the many platforms used to reach out to existing and prospective customers and proliferate PayNow applications. These regular engagement and learning events also include overarching SME themes like blockchain, cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence and property outlook etc. to equip our customers with forward looking perspective.
• From now until 31 December 2018, business banking customers stand to receive S$88 cash credit when they process a minimum of S$10,000 in incoming funds collections via PayNow for three consecutive months. Visit maybank.sg/paynow-corporate for the terms and conditions of this promotion.

Ms Cynthia Liaw, Head of Virtual Banking & Payments at Maybank Singapore, said, “The sign-up response has been positive as many of our customers are responding to the government's call to use less cash, write fewer cheques and adopt e-payments. Customers who have signed up are mainly SMEs, including those from the wholesale trade, retail trade and service sectors. Payments received are immediately reflected in the company's bank account which means business owners spend less time depositing cheques and cash, and free up their time to develop their business. Given the multiple benefits of PayNow, Maybank Singapore will continue to promote it through our own digital platforms and events.”

Mr Paul Conway, Chief Executive Officer of Asian Business Software Solutions, said, “Our partnership with Maybank has always been committed to customer success and we will continuously work to provide innovative solutions for their digital and accounting transformation journey. Every SME needs better collaboration and workflow automation tools to become more productive and efficient. The PayNow ready-invoice on our platform saves organisations money, time and resources, so they are able to better focus on building their business.”

Maybank Singapore is waiving all transaction fees on PayNow until December 2019. Customers can sign up via Maybank's Business Internet Banking platform or a hardcopy form. Since PayNow Corporate was launched on 13 August 2018, close to 2,000 Maybank customers have signed up for this banking service to receive or send payments between businesses and individuals instantly with just a Unique Entity Number (UEN) or a PayNow QR Code.