The Bank of Chinese Abroad in Singapore now has direct cross-border transfers to eight mainstream digital wallets in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Viet Nam. This has expanded the Bank’s “line wallet” functionality to 10 major electronic wallets, with the first access to the new Twitter payment and payment treasures last year.
This expansion is the result of a cross-border payment cooperation between the Bank of Chinese Emigrants and Visa since 2024. The new money transfer service, which is almost real-time and free of charge, includes: Coins, GCash and PayMaya in the Philippines, GoPay, LinkAja and Ovo in Indonesia, Momo in Viet Nam, and a tactile electronic wallet in Malaysia. The total number of service users on these platforms is 2.72 billion, taking into account the micro-credit payments and payment treasures previously accessed. The service is based on the Visa Direct technology, which connects nearly 11 billion payment endpoints worldwide. “When we launched a direct wallet transfer last year, we promised to extend our services to markets outside China, and we have now honoured our commitments. By connecting the eight hot wallets of South-East Asia, we are removing cross-border payment barriers to make remittances faster, more economical and more inclusive. Our long-term goal is to connect 50 digital wallets around the world and to build the most comprehensive wallet-line service in the banking industry.”
According to the Bank, this expansion aims to increase the speed of remittances, reduce costs and increase the accessibility of services, particularly to 1.6 million foreign workers in Singapore, many of whom still rely on slow and costly traditional channels. Through direct-link wallet transfers, money can be transferred directly by the sender or employer to the recipient ‘ s electronic wallet, without the need for a bank account or physical access. Visa Singapore and Brunei Regional Manager Kim Enya said: “The latest Visa International Report on Remittances shows that nearly 60 percent of Singapore’s remittance users plan to maintain or increase cross-border remittance lines this year, confirming the resilience and digital maturity of Singapore’s financial ecology. Our in-depth collaboration with the Bank of China Abroad has enabled us to connect more digital wallets in South-East Asia and to assist clients in achieving rapid, secure and easy cross-border remittances.”
Since the launch of the Chinese wallet service last year, the China Overseas Bank has processed over S$60 million (approximately RMB320 million) in transactions through this channel. The Bank of China Overseas revealed that there has been a fourfold increase in money transfers to China, that most of the early users are on-the-job professionals, and that many users have not recently been present at Internet shops.