E-Red Packets Gain Traction

With physical gatherings limited, red packet gifting via digital channels on the first two days of the Lunar New Year grew considerably from the year before.

Efforts to digitalize the longstanding custom of giving hong bao (red packets) during the Lunar New Year have been given a boost by the pandemic and limited social gatherings in Singapore, according to local banks, which reported a rise in e-hongbao adoption.

DBS reported more than 9,000 DBS eGift transactions on Friday and Saturday – a 108 percent increase from last year – and 215 percent more at S$595,000, with some S$2 million loaded on 32,000 of the bank’s QR gift cards compared to S$660,000 on 18,000 QR gift cards in 2020. Transactions on OCBC Bank’s Pay Anyone app rose more than 140 percent compared to last year, while the volume of PayNow transactions made by UOB customers tripled on the first two days of the Lunar New Year from 2020, the banks said.

Limitations with regard to physical interactions and gatherings, and new cashless habits adopted in the past year among consumers contributed were behind the rise in digital giving, a spokesman for Standard Chartered, which saw PayNow transactions rise 400 percent, told the paper.

While community transmission of the Covid-19 virus in Singapore is largely contained, households in Singapore are limited to a maximum of eight visitors per day, which has put a dampener on celebrations.

Despite the rise in digital alternatives, old habits die hard, as evidenced by the efforts of banks that have continued to produce red packets with elaborate designs.