Google Pay revamped for Singaporeans to transfer money, split bills, order food and book movie tickets

In an increasingly cashless era, not using physical money these days can actually keep you safe — if not from the coronavirus, then at least from germs. 

In its push to make cashless payments even more convenient (and attractive for non-believers), Google Pay Singapore has been refreshed to be an all-in-one contactless payment app that works for all Singaporeans, no matter which bank or card that they choose. 

In other words, this would be the one consolidated app for folks to make money transfers regardless of bank account, be it through DBS, OCBC or Standard Chartered. Customers would be able to link their bank accounts to their Google Pay account and pay anyone (as long as they’re registered on PayNow) even if the recipient is not on Google Pay. 

More importantly, the infrastructure of the platform has been designed and built specifically for Google’s Singaporean market. 

“By working closely with our banking partners and merchants, we hope to deliver a more rewarding payment experience that works for every Singaporean, be it paying someone back for a meal, booking a movie ticket or using Google Pay to tap and pay for your MRT ride,” said Google Pay’s Director of Engineering Patrick Teo. 

We do foresee, however, that Google Pay would come in handy when it comes to managing monetary settlements among friends and family who may not all be under the same bank. An integrated function on the app will be able to divide bills equally and let users request and receive payments. Crucially though, users would be able to track who has or hasn’t paid them back, so that one person in the group (there’s always that person) won’t be able to pretend that he or she forgot to make a payment. 

Google does want to characterise its app as more than just a way to send and receive money. It’s also a platform to order food for takeaway (from over 800 eateries across Singapore), book movie tickets from Shaw or Golden Village, and earn rewards and cashback while at it. 

Money’s a great incentive to get people on board of course. Google Pay rewards referrals with $5 cashback upon their first transaction of $10. 

ilyas@asiaone.com