OCBC Keyboard lets customers make P2P payments without leaving messaging apps

Once they have downloaded and set up the keyboard app, customers can tap on the OCBC Pay Anyone icon from within Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, Chrome and others to send money instantly to anyone with a bank account in Singapore, using just their mobile number.

Users select a recipient from their contact list and are then guided through the transfer within the keyboard before continuing to use the app they were in.

Aditya Gupta, head, e-business, Singapore, OCBC, says: said: “With OCBC Keyboard, we are embedding payments in our customers’ lives and making it completely frictionless for them to pay while they go about everyday tasks like chatting on Whatsapp, sending emails, buying items on Carousell or browsing the Internet.

“I’m confident that this added convenience will exponentially increase the adoption and usage of e-payments, including PayNow transfers.”

The keyboard is unlikely to come to iPhone users. In June, Apple told Australia’s Westpac to disable a similar service just weeks after it was introduced. However, OCBC has integrated its Pay Anyone feature with Siri and iMessage.