A digital payment in Singapore is any transaction that moves electronically. This includes bank transfers, such as those made through PayNow, and QR code scans, which route through the country’s unified Singapore Quick Response Code (SGQR) system.

Singapore is a highly cashless country, with digital payments adoption reaching 92% in 2025. The market runs on a small set of national payment systems built by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and local banks. Singapore shoppers use different payment options depending on whether they’re paying in-person, online, or through an app, so businesses must be equipped to support all of these methods.

Below, we’ll discuss the digital payment options available in Singapore and why the country’s digital payments adoption keeps climbing. We’ll also cover what to look for in a payment provider that can support several payment methods through a single integration.

Key takeaways

• Singapore’s digital payment options include cards, bank transfers, digital wallets, and QR codes, and the Singapore Quick Response Code (SGQR) system ties most of them together at checkout.

• Digital payment adoption continues to climb due to high smartphone ownership, shifting customer habits, and steady local ecommerce growth.

• Supporting the payment methods Singapore customers already use speeds up checkout, reduces drop-off, and maintains consistency across channels.

What are digital payments in Singapore?

A digital payment is any transaction that settles through an electronic payment method rather than with cash. Card payments, bank transfers, QR code scans, and digital wallet transactions all count as digital payments.

How do digital payments work in Singapore?

Digital payments in Singapore usually move through card networks or bank-linked transfers. They use a specific set of systems that the MAS and local banks have standardized over the past decade.

These include:

• SGQR: Launched in 2018, the SGQR merged more than 20 separate QR schemes into a single code. A customer’s banking or wallet app can scan the SGQR code and route the payment through whichever method the app supports, such as PayNow or GrabPay.

• FAST: Fast and Secure Transfers (FAST) is an interbank network that moves money between participating banks in close to real time. PayNow runs on top of FAST and allows customers to use a mobile number, National Registration Identity Card (NRIC) number, or Unique Entity Number (UEN) instead of a full bank account number.

• GIRO: Older and slower than FAST, General Interbank Recurring Order (GIRO) still handles some recurring payments, such as utility bills and insurance premiums. Payments made through GIRO settle in one to three business days rather than instantly.

• NETS: Singapore’s domestic debit network, Network for Electronic Transfers (NETS) is primarily used for small daily purchases. A card payment is authorized instantly at checkout. Funds typically reach a business’s bank account within one to two business days.

Integrating with a payment provider allows a business to accept any of these payment methods without having to build a separate connection to each bank or scheme.

What are popular digital payment methods in Singapore?

Singapore consumers have four main ways of spending.

Here are the most popular payment methods for in-person and online purchases:

Cards

Visa and Mastercard are popular cards for larger purchases and at online checkouts. NETS handles a large share of in-person transactions at hawker centers, supermarkets, and smaller retail stores. Most Singapore shoppers now use contactless tap payments at card terminals instead of inserting a chip. Online card payments typically run through a hosted checkout, or through embedded fields that tokenize the card number before it enters a business’s servers.

Digital wallets

Widely used digital wallets include GrabPay, DBS PayLah!, and Singtel Dash. Customers link a card or bank balance to a wallet and pay by scanning a QR code or tapping their phone. Because these digital wallets grew out of ride-hailing and telco apps, they are most popular for daily transactions such as coffee, transportation, and food delivery. Some digital wallet apps also let customers split a bill or send money directly to another user.

Bank-based payments

The most popular bank-based payment app, PayNow, lets customers pay by scanning a QR code or entering a mobile number. The money then transfers directly between bank accounts via the FAST network. Businesses use PayNow Corporate the same way, with a UEN instead of a personal mobile number. GIRO, a slower option, remains popular for recurring bills.

QR payments

Thanks to SGQR, a single QR code at checkout can accept payments via PayNow, NETS, or any of several digital wallets. That means a business needs just one QR sticker at checkout, and a customer can scan from whichever app is most convenient. SGQR has become the default at hawker stalls and smaller shops.

Why do digital payments continue to grow in Singapore?

Digital payments adoption in Singapore reached 92% in 2025, and experts forecast continuing growth.

Three forces are driving this increase:

• Consumer expectations: After PayNow and SGQR made scan-to-pay standard across retail, cash was no longer the default option. A large majority of Singapore residents now use at least one digital payment method every week. Many hawker stalls that once only took cash have added QR acceptance, some with the help of programs such as Hawkers Go Digital, which gave stallholders PayNow QR codes and basic point-of-sale (POS) support.

• Mobile-first behavior: Unlike elsewhere in the region, phone ownership isn’t a barrier to growth. Singapore has a 96% internet penetration rate, and the vast majority of the population carries a smartphone capable of running a banking or wallet app.

• Ecommerce growth: Singapore functions as a regional hub for Southeast Asian ecommerce. Several platforms base their operations there even when many of their customers are in Indonesia, Malaysia, or Vietnam.

What benefits do digital payments offer businesses in Singapore?

Businesses that accept the variety of digital payment methods available in Singapore create an easier experience for customers, who can pay with their chosen method.

This decreased friction has a number of downstream benefits:

• Faster checkout: A QR code payment or digital wallet transaction completes in seconds. A customer doesn’t have to dig for a physical card, count out cash, or type 16 digits into a phone screen.

• Increased conversion and decreased abandonment: Offering a customer’s preferred payment method makes it easy for them to complete the transaction. Customers who reach the checkout and don’t see their preferred payment method might just leave.

• Improved customer experience: A customer who can pay the same way for a quick lunch, an online purchase, and a subscription service doesn’t have to think about payment at all. If you accept the customer’s preferred payment system across channels, you become part of that easy experience.

What should businesses look for in a digital payments provider in Singapore?

When choosing a provider for the Singapore market, prioritize security, flexibility, and transparency.

Look for the following capabilities:

• Security and compliance: Your provider should maintain Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance and tokenize card data so that raw card numbers never reach your servers.

• Reliability: Transaction routing should hold up during traffic spikes, such as a flash sale or seasonal shopping event, without duplicate charges or dropped transactions.

• Multichannel support: If your business sells online, in an app, and at a physical counter—or might in the future—your provider should be able to handle all three channels without requiring separate integrations.

• Reporting: Supporting different payment methods means eventually reconciling payments and transfers that settle on different schedules. Look for a dashboard that shows payment types side by side to help with reconciliation and reporting.

Stripe supports digital payments in the Singapore market. It accepts cards, PayNow, and several digital wallets through a single integration, and settles payments into a local bank account.

How Stripe Payments can help

Stripe Payments provides a unified, global payments solution that helps any business—from scaling startups to global enterprises—accept payments online, in person, and around the world.

Stripe Payments can help you:

• Optimize your checkout experience: Create a frictionless customer experience and save engineering time with prebuilt payment UIs, access to 125+ payment methods, and Link, a wallet built by Stripe.

• Expand to new markets faster: Reach customers worldwide and reduce the complexity and cost of multicurrency management with cross-border payment options, available in 195 countries across 135+ currencies.

• Unify payments in person and online: Build a unified commerce experience across online and in-person channels to personalize interactions, reward loyalty, and grow revenue.

• Improve payments performance: Increase revenue with a range of customizable, easy-to-configure payment tools, including no-code fraud protection and advanced capabilities to improve authorization rates.

• Move faster with a flexible, reliable platform for growth: Build on a platform designed to scale with you, with 99.999% historical uptime and industry-leading reliability.

Learn more about how Stripe Payments can power your online and in-person payments, or get started today.

FAQs about digital payments in Singapore