Singtel’s NFC Partners Nets for Central Bank Payments

The partnership leverages NCS’ capabilities in building government applications and infrastructure, and Nets’ experience as Singapore’s national payments provider and facilitating cross-border payments.

NCS and the Network for Electronic Transfers (Nets) group will jointly develop a new real-time electronic payment and securities settlement platform for central banks in Asia Pacific, according to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed on Monday.

The ceremony took place via video conferencing in light of enhanced safe distancing measures against the Covid-19 outbreak.

The platform will be secure, resilient and robust by design to allow interoperability with current and future payment systems and facilitate high-value inter-bank fund transfers, a statement said. According to the partners, this will enhance the way central banks deliver monetary policies and critical market infrastructure to support financial stability.

NCS and Nets will also develop a «next-generation suite of central banking products» that can be customized to the regulatory needs of different financial markets.

This will allow the firms to expand their footprints in markets in Southeast Asia, as well as Hong Kong and China, the announcement said.

NCS is an information, communications and technology (ICT) service provider that works with governments and firms in the Asia Pacific region on digital infrastructure projects, and global and regional banks to support their front and back-end operations.

While we continue to strengthen our core services, we are also investing in our digital capabilities to develop local-IP fintech products and platforms to fuel our growth in the financial services sector, said Ng Kuo Pin, CEO, NCS, about the partnership.