Banks see surge in number of e-hongbao given out this CNY

More people are giving hongbao (red packets) to their loved ones through digital channels, with banks seeing a surge in e-hongbao adoption last weekend.

DBS Bank said more than 9,000 DBS eGift transactions were made over the first two days of Chinese New Year - last Friday and Saturday - and this was a 108 per cent surge from the same period last year.

The total amount transacted also spiked 215 per cent to $595,000.

DBS also saw higher usage of its QR Gift cards, which are physical gift cards that substitute traditional red packets.

They allow users of the DBS PayLah! app to scan a QR code to load cash. Non-DBS customers can also receive the QR Gift as long as they have registered for PayNow.

Some 32,000 DBS QR Gift cards were loaded with a total of $2 million as at last Saturday.

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This compares with the 18,000 QR Gift cards with about $660,000 loaded in the same period last year.

Customers also gave more generously.

The average value of a DBS eGift rose 51 per cent year-on-year to $65, while that of a QR Gift rose 69 per cent to $61.

Meanwhile, OCBC Bank said transactions on its Pay Anyone app rose more than 140 per cent year-on-year in the first two days of Chinese New Year.

The volume of PayNow transactions made by United Overseas Bank (UOB) customers on the first two days of Chinese New Year tripled from last year.

Ms Jacquelyn Tan, the bank's head of group personal financial services, said customers used the bank's digital red packet design for more than 100,000 PayNow transactions on the UOB Mighty app in just under two weeks of the design's launch on the app.

A Maybank spokesman said PayNow transactions on the first and second day of Chinese New Year tripled from last year.

Likewise, PayNow transactions at Standard Chartered Bank surged by more than 400 per cent from a year ago last Friday and Saturday, with the total amount transacted almost tripling. A Standard Chartered spokesman said: "Given the limitations with regard to physical interactions and gatherings, and the new cashless habits which many consumers have adopted in the last year, there have been a stronger growth in e-angbao adoption this year."