The Monetary Authority of Singapore and Bank Negara Malaysia have teamed up to create a revolutionary cross-border QR code payment linkage. This system will allow financial institutions to make retail payments using NETS QR and DuitNow QR codes, supporting in-person payments made by scanning physical QR codes displayed by merchants, as well as online cross-border e-commerce transactions.
This new QR code payment linkage is the latest addition to Singapore’s growing set of cross-border payment linkages. By boosting cross-border commerce, this linkage will enable merchants, especially small businesses, to reach out to a wider pool of consumers.
Singapore and Malaysia are part of ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). ASEAN is a regional intergovernmental organization that aims to promote economic, political, and social cooperation among its member countries, which include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
This new QR code measure is fulfills part of the ASEAN Payment Connectivity Initiative, which strives for frictionless regional payments. According to Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the improved connectivity will be vital to ASEAN’s future growth.
In the next phase, the regulators in Singapore and Malaysia plan allow real-time fund transfers between Singapore and Malaysia using just the recipient’s mobile phone number by the end of 2023.
The launch of this new QR code payment linkage demonstrates how cross-border payments are evolving to become more seamless and efficient. It provides merchants and consumers with a more convenient means to make and receive payments. QR codes are becoming increasingly common throughout the world. In the U.S., they started to really gain traction during the pandemic, but they have long been common in Asia.
