NETS Group, Singapore’s leading payment services group, has inked landmark agreements with Mastercard and Visa to acquire merchants directly in Singapore

With this partnership, eligible merchants can now have access to an enhanced suite of digital payment schemes such as NETS (Network for Electronic Transfers), Mastercard, and Visa from a single payment service provider, NETS – according to a press release.

Today, merchants offering NETS payment scheme can already accept overseas wallets and foreign cards payments which include MyDebit card, RuPay card, BCA card, WeChat Pay app, BHIM app, PromptPay and Alipay+. NETS already has existing arrangements to acquire merchants for AMEX, Diners, Discover, JCB and UnionPay.

Moving forward, small businesses with less than S$1,000,000 turnover can enjoy competitive Merchant Discount Rates (MDR) for Mastercard and Visa payment schemes if they opt to expand their payment options in addition to NETS payment scheme.

Merchants will enjoy more convenience as they only need to liaise with a single payment service provider. In the past, merchants needed to work with multiple parties to get access to local, Mastercard and Visa payment schemes.

Consolidating their payment schemes with NETS will mean merchants can enjoy a single settlement across NETS, Mastercard, and Visa, whilst having a unified view of transactions across all its payment options. This move is intended to reduce the hassle of administrative work and drive efficiency so that heartland business owners can free up time to focus on growing the business.

Lawrence Chan, Group CEO of NETS said, “We are constantly looking for ways to drive value-added solutions for our merchant partners. To do so, we are expanding our role to be an acquirer of choice to our merchants. NETS aims to be the single point of contact for all things payments for our merchant partners.

Increasingly, consumers are opting to pay digitally and NETS will continue to support our merchant partners with the relevant merchant solutions. Our partnership with Mastercard and Visa is a big step forward for our heartland merchant partners as they can now easily tap on a comprehensive range of major payment options with less hassle and provide more choices to their consumers.”

Deborah Heng, Country Manager, Singapore, Mastercard said, “Through this partnership, Mastercard and NETS will provide merchants, including SMEs which make up the majority of businesses here, with the convenience of fast and transparent payments experiences. Merchants will also enjoy access to a wider consumer base and greater visibility and management of funds. Mastercard remains committed to working with partners to bring tailored and fuss-free solutions that benefit businesses of all sizes.”

Adeline Kim, Visa Country Manager for Singapore & Brunei said, “Singapore consumers prefer to use card payments over cash in Singapore. As shoppers increasingly rely on digital payments, it is fundamental for small business owners to accept digital payments to drive the growth of their businesses. In Visa’s Back to Business study, more than two in five Singaporeans have opted not to make a purchase due to the lack of digital payments acceptance at the shop. We are proud to partner with NETS so that more Visa cardholders can pay with their cards or mobile devices at more shops, particularly those in the heartland areas which previously did not have card acceptance.”

Fast on-boarding & seamless upgrades

Onboarding is swift- in five days or less, new merchants should be able to get their terminals to accept payments. Most existing merchants who already accept NETS can add on Mastercard and Visa as payment options without needing to upgrade their payment terminals.

Alleviating the hassle of dealing with multiple payment providers and quick on-boarding will encourage more merchants to accept a wider range of payment options. At the same time, consumers can look forward to more places accepting their preferred payment options and merchants can attract more customers.