OCBC Launches Android Keyboard For P2P Payments

Singapore-based OCBC Bank has reportedly rolled out an Android-based keyboard enabling users to make peer-to-peer (P2P) payments.

According to a report in Finextra, the keyboard is designed to allow P2P payments while a user is in any mobile app or on a mobile browser. Consumers download the keyboard app and, once it’s set up, tap on the OCBC Pay Anyone tab from any app, including Facebook, Instagram or Whatsapp, among others.

Users can also make payments through the OCBC Android keyboard app without leaving a browser, noted the report, and can send money to anyone in the country with a bank account by using a mobile phone number. Users choose recipients from their contact lists to facilitate the payment.

“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,” said Aditya Gupta, head of Singapore eBusiness for the OCBC, in a statement. “I’m confident that this added convenience will exponentially increase the adoption and usage of ePayments, including PayNow transfers.”

This isn’t the first time the bank has innovated with new technology. Last fall, OCBC claimed to be the first Asian bank to enable voice transactions via Apple’s Siri and in-app with iMessage. According to a report at the time, OCBC Bank said Siri and iMessage services for OCBC’s Pay Anyone P2P mobile app are available to customers using iPhone devices running the iOS 10 software.

To send money using Siri, a user activates the virtual assistant with a voice command, saying the name of the recipient from his or her contact list to whom he or she would like to send money as well as the amount to send. On iMessage, sending payments happens in-app through the conversation screen. There is no interruption to the group chat, noted the report.