OCBC OneCollect facilitates PayNow collections by SMEs

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OCBC Bank has seen a surge in the use of PayNow by its small and medium enterprise (SME) customers, among whom seven of every 10 have registered for the funds transfer service. The volume of PayNow transactions by the bank’s SME customers in the first 10 months of 2020 was more than five times the total volume of transactions in 2019. It is against this backdrop that the bank has launched merchant app OCBC OneCollect to facilitate PayNow collections.

A key feature of OCBC OneCollect is its notification function. An in-app notification is immediately sent to SME owners and their frontline staff once a PayNow QR payment is successfully credited.

This would benefit SME owners like Mr Choo Teng Yeow, the owner of JZ Trading, which sells joss paper and ceremonial products. He said, “We used to rely on our customers to show us their PayNow confirmation screens. So as more people started using PayNow, we also have had more cases of people showing us old screenshots and pretending that they have paid. With OCBC OneCollect, I don’t have to worry about this anymore. Once the app sends me a notification, I know for sure that the money has been received.”

Convenience and time savings

The OCBC OneCollect app, which is available in English and Chinese, helps streamline refund processes, allowing cashiers to select the transaction and make refunds digitally. Alternatively, to keep customers from keying in an incorrect amount, a unique QR code for each transaction can be generated using the app.

The app also consolidates and reconciles PayNow QR payments, made across an SME’s multiple outlets. The SME owner thereby saves on the time needed to manually do these tasks, while staying updated on the cashflow situation.

Ms Caryn Lim, co-founder of The Green Bar, a salad bar with outlets at Millenia Walk and Alexandra Retail Centre, said, “My daily tally of transactions is much easier now with the app. It captures all the PayNow transactions and separates them by outlet, which is a useful and time-saving feature. I like having the option of generating a unique QR code in real-time which eliminates the need for our customers to input the payment amount. It is quite common for the wrong amount to be keyed in. A customer once mistakenly paid $1500 instead of $15 and it was very difficult for us to track down the customer to provide the refund.”

Mr Melvyn Low, Head, Global Transaction Banking, OCBC Bank, said, “OCBC OneCollect is especially relevant in this post-Covid-19 new normal where contactless payment is now expected of all businesses. The app is integrated with PayNow and serves to make the process of collecting PayNow QR payments, through the mobile or SGQR, even more seamless. Start-ups and SMEs that do not have any e-payments solution yet will find this to be an accessible entry point into using PayNow. With this app, we hope to encourage SMEs to take the necessary step of digitalising their collections process.”

Mr Choo Teng Yeow, the owner of JZ Trading, which sells joss paper and ceremonial products, began using OCBC OneCollect earlier this year to generate a QR code on the app for each transaction, which his customers scan and pay using PayNow.

He said, “It is important for businesses to go digital. Our younger customers don’t even carry cash anymore so it is important that we accept digital payments.  But we used to rely on our customers to show us their PayNow confirmation screens, so as more people started using PayNow, we also had more cases of people showing us old screenshots, and pretending that they have paid.

“I don’t have to worry about this anymore. Once the app sends me a notification, I know for sure that the money has been received. I also like how easy it was to download and use the app. My cashier is approaching her 60s, but she has learned to use it as well.”