Citi bank customers in Singapore are the first in the world to be offered its new digital wallet, Citi Pay.

Customers will be able to use their Android mobile device to tap POS terminals offering near-field communication (NFC).

The bank says the onboarding process for Citi Pay is seamless and easy. Customers can use their Citibank online user ID and password to log in to Citi Pay.

Australia and Mexico are expected to follow with Citi Pay becoming available later this month, with other markets to follow next year.

Meanwhile, research company MarketAndResearch has projected the Singaporean payment cards market will have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.7 per cent between 2015 and 2020, following 3.3 per cent from 2012 to 2014.

It says debit cards held 53 per cent of the payment card market in Singapore in 2014.

Earlier this month, global payment company Worldpay said credit-card use in Singapore is set to fall by 40 per cent in less than five years.

However, MarketAndResearch says consumers prefer to use credit cards to make POS payments. Its report Singapore Cards and Payments Market – Growth and Forecast to 2020 estimates the value of transactions at POS terminals account for 95.7 per cent of total credit-card transactions in Singapore.

Another report, from KPMG, Singapore Payments Roadmap – Enabling the future of Payments 2020 and Beyond, says 51 per cent of payment cards used by Singapore consumers are now contactless.