Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Network for Electronic Transfers

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Type
  
Privately held company

Website
  
www.nets.com.sg

Key people
  
Jeffrey Goh, CEO

Founded
  
1985

Network for Electronic Transfers httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaenthumb6

Network for Electronic Transfers (Singapore) Pte Ltd (Abbreviation: NETS; Chinese: 星网电子付款私人有限公司) was founded in 1985 by a consortium of local banks to establish the debit network and drive the adoption of electronic payments in Singapore.

Contents

NETS is designated as a national payment system by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

NETS is owned by Singapore's largest banks, DBS Bank, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Bank (OCBC) and United Overseas Bank (UOB).

NETS is a member of the Asian Payment Network (APN) and a council member of UnionPay International.

Singapore's Debit Network

In 1986, NETS established Singapore's national debit service which enabled ATM cardholders to pay for purchases electronically at the point-of-sale.Today, the NETS debit infrastructure enables 10 million bank cardholders to use their cards islandwide.

In 2011, the NETS debit system came under the purview of the Payment Systems (Oversight) Act by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. In 2014, the debit system was upgraded to integrate the EMV Smart Chip card technology, aligning with the best-practice standards of the global industry.

NETS as an Acquirer and Issuer

NETS is both an acquirer and an issuer in the payments industry. As a card issuer, NETS issues Stored Value Facility (SVF) prepaid electronic cards for consumers to make mircopayments. As a merchant acquirer, NETS works with business owners to extend its reach of Electronic Funds Transfer at Point-of-Sale (EFTPOS) in Singapore.

NETS EFTPOS

NETS EFTPOS is a nationwide infrastructure that enables DBS/POSB, OCBC, UOB and Standard Chartered bank customers to make purchases at points-of-sale using their ATM cards. The NETS EFTPOS service is available at 97,000 acceptance points throughout Singapore.

NETS Unified POS

NETS Unified POS was introduced to accept contact/contactless, credit and debit payments on one terminal. The terminal accepts NETS, NETS FlashPay, debit and credit schemes such as VISA, MasterCard, American Express, UnionPay and JCB, cards issued by partnering banks (e.g. BCA bank), as well as NFC-enabled mobile wallets like Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay. NETS Unified POS can be integrated with loyalty programmes, prepaid services and point-of-sale via Electronic Cash Register interface.

eNETS

eNETS is an online payment gateway services. It enables payment from all major credit cards and currencies as well as Direct Debit (internet banking payments) from the major banks in Singapore and China, including DBS (Singapore and Hong Kong), UOB, OCBC, Citibank and BNU.

NETS eCommerce

NETS eCommerce was launched in 2016 to provide a quick and affordable end-to-end solution to set up webstores. The solution is integrated with secured payment options using eNETS Debit and Credit.

Retailer Stored Value Programme

Retailer Stored Value Programme (RSVP) helps merchants to enable customisable rewards programmes that ride on their existing NETS terminals and NETS FlashPay-platform. RSVP is a closed-loop wallet. There are 20 RSVP Purses and each Purse holds up to 7 prepaid items (dollar value prepaid and 6 prepaid programmes). Redemption and top-ups are done on the NETS terminals in real-time. All NETS FlashPay cards and bank/credit/debit cards that have the NETS FlashPay logo support RSVP rewards programmes.

Merchant Prepaid

NETS allows merchants to design their own branded prepaid gift cards to implement customisable (e.g. expiry date and limits) prepaid programmes. Redemption and top-ups are done in stores on NETS terminals in real-time. The magnetic stripe cards can be one-time or reusable cards.

CashCard

NETS introduced the CashCard in 1995. The CashCard is a stored value card that is predominantly used as a payment mode for Singapore’s Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) and car park charges since the introduction of the in-vehicle unit in 1997. CashCard can also be used for retail purchases.

vCashCard

In May 2015, NETS launched vCashCard, a virtual wallet for road tolls payment that allows motorists to drive through Singapore’s Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantries seamlessly. Road toll payments are automatically charged to their bank accounts or debit/credit cards. With NETS vCashCard, motorists do not need to worry about forgetting to insert a physical CashCard/FlashPay into the in-vehicle unit or having insufficient value in the CashCard/FlashPay and paying unnecessary ERP admin fees. Motorists can sign up for auto top-up service and view their ERP transactions at the vCashCard website or NETS vCashCard app from App Store or Google Play.

Fleet vCashCard

In May 2016, Fleet vCashCard, an extension of vCashCard, was launched for use by commercial fleet operators such as private bus operators, logistics companies, courier and food delivery companies. With the automatic deduction and top-up features as the vehicles pass through the ERP gantries, Fleet vCashCard helps businesses improve their work efficiency and addresses the manpower crunch in Singapore.

FlashPay

The Singapore Government launched CEPAS 2.0 (Contactless e-Purse Application), a Singaporean specification of a common standard for electronic money smart card, in 2009. The transit market was opened to more issuers where NETS participated and introduced NETS FlashPay card on 9 October 2009.

FlashPay is a multi-purpose contactless stored value smart card that can be used for a huge variety of quick payments at/on – MRT/LRT, public buses, taxis, ERP gantries (with the new generation in-vehicle unit), car parks (which have been upgraded to accept CEPAS-compliant cards) and 97,000 retail acceptance points island-wide.

NETS tied up with fashion retailer Jay Gee Melwani Group to launch the Jay Gee Card – a NETS FlashPay CEPAS card with a loyalty programme giving customers discounts, offers and other perks.

In October 2010, NETS launched the Auto Top Up service for the NETS FlashPay card, allowing commuters to automatically top up the value on their cards to a predetermined amount (S$30, S$40 or S$50) when it runs low or when there is insufficient stored value on the card to make payment at all MRT and LRT stations, public buses, ERP gantries and EPS (upgraded) carparks.

NETS Top-Up Machines

More than 2,000 NETS Top-Up Machines located at car parks, convenient stores, shopping malls and public places allow users to:

  • Top-up NETS FlashPay cards and CashCards
  • Top-up mobile prepaid cards (only at selected machines)
  • De-register NETS FlashPay Auto Top-up service (only at selected machines)
  • NETS Self-Service Stations

    More than 30 NETS Self-Service Stations located at public places allow users to use NETS FlashPay cards and NETS cards to:

  • Pay for utility, telco and credit cards bills
  • Make payments to hospitals and other healthcare, educational and retail institutions
  • Top up NETS FlashPay cards and CashCards
  • Top up mobile prepaid cards
  • Transfer money
  • Card Personalisation

    NETS Card Centre is a Card Personalisation Bureau that provides end-to-end card personalisation of ATM cards, credit/debit cards, NETS CashCards, NETS FlashPay, prepaid, EMV-enabled, contactless and private-label cards for banks and financial institutions. NETS Card Centre is ISO 9002, VISA and MasterCard certified.

    ATM Switching Services

    NETS provides local and regional ATM switching services for banks. NETS partnered with Malaysian Electronic Payment System (MEPS) in Malaysia to enable bilateral cross-border ATM withdrawal services, and UnionPay in China to enable its cardholders to make purchases and withdraw cash from ATMs in Singapore.

    References

    Network for Electronic Transfers Wikipedia