The Singapore Standard for Contactless e-Purse Application or CEPAS (pronounced as C-Pass) is a significant milestone for Singapore's micro-payment landscape.
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CEPAS was formally announced by Mr Chan Yeng Kit, Chief Executive Officer, IDA (on the right) during the "CEPAS Launch and Next Generation E-Payment Seminar". On the left is Mr Lin Yih, Chairman of CPITC
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It is key pillar of the national ePayment infrastructure, outlined in iN2015 (the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore's [IDA] 10-year Infocomm masterplan). Spearheaded by IDA, CEPAS is a result of a close collaboration between, IDA, Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the industry to develop a cashless nation-wide e-payment platform.
Developed jointly by the IDA with the Cards & Personal Identification Technical Committee (CPTIC) under the Singapore IT Standards Committee (ITSC), Network for Electronic Transfers Singapore Pte Ltd (NETS), and EZ-Link Pte Ltd, CEPAS was gazetted by the Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board (SPRING Singapore) in January 2006 as SS 518.
Available for industry use, CEPAS is a world's first in creating a nationwide interoperable micro-payment platform that bridges multiple sectors - in particular the transit and retail e-payment space.
CEPAS was formally announced by Mr Chan Yeng Kit, Chief Executive Officer, IDA during the "CEPAS Launch and Next Generation E-Payment Seminar", held at the Suntec City Convention Centre, on 27th June 2006, with close to 400 participants.
Benefits
Today, the Singapore market has two widely used Multi-Purpose Stored Value Card (MPSVC) infrastructures that are non-interoperable:- the NETS CashCard and the ez-link card. The CEPAS standard provides an interoperable platform that our two largest MPSVC issuers, NETS and EZ-Link, will eventually migrate to.
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The launch which was held in June 2006 saw close to 400 participants
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Therefore, the launch of CEPAS is a significant step closer towards giving consumers the convenience of having a single card for making transit, motoring and retail payments instead of having multiple cards for different purposes. When fully adopted, consumers will be able to use one card seamlessly and safely in various payment scenarios.
Beyond just convenience to consumers, merchants and public service providers will be able to deploy a single reader for their transaction processing, as opposed to having multiple readers. CEPAS will also level the playing field allowing more card issuers such as banks and financial institutions to participate in this micro-payment space. Hence, CEPAS results in a "win-win-win" for consumers, merchants, as well as card issuers.
Next Steps
LTA has awarded to IBM the contract to build the core backend infrastructure for LTA's next-generation transit e-payment system – Symphony for e-payment (e-Symphony). The e-Symphony will incorporate CEPAS and allow the transit infrastructure to support multiple card issuers.
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VIPs viewing the exhibits at the launch of CEPAS. CEPAS is a significant step closer towards giving convenience to consumers, merchants and public service providers
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To facilitate the adoption and deployment of CEPAS compliant cards and readers, a CEPAS InterFest will be conducted by ITSC starting from Jan 2007. The official call-for-participation announcement was be held on 6 December 2006, 2pm to 4pm at the IDA Multi-Purpose Hall 1.
Moving forward, IDA and our partners will continue to work together to provide consumers new and innovative e-payment solutions. Singapore will continue to invest in payments innovation, while at the same time ensuring seamless interoperability among various payment platforms and minimise market fragmentation.
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Contributed by Mr Ngin Hoon Tong, Consultant, Technology Directions, IDA.