Singapore is quite backward

In spite of our banks spending hundreds of million dollars on their I.T. systems, Singapore is actually quite backward. Many people write checks and mail them to their payees.

I have just written a check to pay my subscription to a professional body in Singapore. I have to mail the check to the organization.

In a more advanced society, I could pay by credit card or by bank transfer. The professional body in Singapore does not allow this form of payment because the process is quite a hassle. It is a hassle to make a one time payment in Singapore and also a hassle for the receiving party to identify who has made the payment.

In other countries, the payer will use internet banking. The receiving party receives receives the payment with the necessary details to handle their processing. It would have been much more convenient for all parties.

I believe that the backward processes in Singapore is probably due to requirements by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Some of these requirements, whether in the name of security or anti-money laundering measures, are implemented mindlessly, making the measures to be quite impractical. But, sadly, this is Singapore. I hope that MAS will get advice from practical people on some of their measures, and can make a judgement on security and practicality.

Read this blog from Mr. Brown. I share the same sentiment. http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2011/12/now-you-can-e-bank-with-more-peace-of-mind-but-with-bigger-pain-of-ass.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mrbrown+%28mrbrown%29

I made a payment of a subscription to a professional body in the UK. It was quite easy. I paid through my credit card.

My friend from the UK was surprised that people in Singapore are still signing cheques and authorisation to his bank. He said that in the UK, he only needed to give a personal PIN number for all his transaction with the bank, and has never use his signature with any of his transactions with his bank for years!