Singapore is on its way to becoming a cashless nation as electronic money will be made legal tender by 2008.
The Board of Commissioners of Currency Singapore (BCCS) said that it is working with the Network for Electronic Transfers (NETS) on the infrastructure to support an electronic legal tender system.
Currently, legal tender in Singapore is limited to BCCS-issued currency notes and coins.
Low Siang Kok, a director of BCCS, commented that electronic tender is a way of keeping the rising costs of handling physical cash down.
The new e-money system will help to eliminate the need for physical storage and transportation for cash.
Money will be in the form of electronic pulses stored in smart chips embedded in mobile phones, PDAs, cars and other forms of electronic wallets, Low said.
Although Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) is already capable of supporting an e-money system, Low said BCCS wants the sytem to reach every corner of the nation and that would require a substantial amount of time.
Low added that BCCS will be looking at similar projects undertaken in the United States, Canada, Japan and Australia and learn from them.
