The same-day settlement for hawkers every day to enable hawkers to receive their sales proceeds in their bank account via NETS transactions on the same business day and give them faster access to their funds and improving cash flow has been launched on Thursday (17 January).
NETS stated in its press release that no special arrangements are required to enjoy the benefit of same-day settlement – all NETS transactions made before 5 pm will be credited to the hawkers’ DBS, OCBC or UOB bank accounts by 11 pm the same day.
While, NETS transactions made after 5 pm will be credited to the hawkers’ bank accounts before 9 am the next business day, which allows hawkers to make their own payments to their suppliers and vendors before the start of the work day for most businesses.
The initiative was made possible through a collaboration between NETS and its merchant banks, DBS, OCBC and UOB, NETS said.
NETS said that it hopes the move will encourage more hawkers to adopt e-payments.
The company said that it comes on the back of a series of initiatives to propagate e-payments at such establishments including the launch of QR code payments at Tanjong Pagar Food Centre in September 2017, the acceptance of EZ-Link and concession card payments on NETS terminals in hawker centres and the appointment of NETS as master acquirer to implement a unified e-payment solution at coffee shops, hawker centres and industrial canteens in September 2018.
Ang Sok Hong, Head, Sales at NETS, said, “The hawker business is like any other in that you not only have to collect payments, you also have to make payments. We’ve taken away the hassle of collection by introducing QR code and other e-payment options and now with same-day settlement, stallholders will be able to settle supplier payments and other business expenses more easily.”
As the move may seem to simplify things for the customers, some thought that this move is all related to tax expenditure.
Ryan Lee wrote, “Convenience is just an excuse, truth is the government wants to track their actual earnings.”
HK Guo wrote, “Always use cash! Any amount that goes thru non-cash modes is likely used for income tax purpose!”
Marklien Luo wrote, “Hahaha, they can’t run away from income tax now!”
Some mentioned their though of the impact for the hawkers.
Henry Yap wrote, “Not forgetting the monthly subscription fee, charges on every transaction etc. How does that benefit hawker? Why not PayNow?”
Richard Tan wrote, “Hawkers are the exploited.”
