KUALA LUMPUR: Cross-border QR Payments between Malaysia-Thailand and Malaysia-Indonesia are now available, enabling convenient instant payments using just mobile phones.
Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PayNet) said this followed the joint announcement between central banks of Malaysia and Thailand in June 2021, and the joint announcement between the central banks of Malaysia and Indonesia on January 27 this year.
PayNet director of retail payments services Khairuan Abdul Rahman said the linkage would enable Malaysian travellers to tap into their bank or e-wallet mobile app to make QR payments in Thailand and Indonesia.
This makes the two countries among the earliest Asean countries to implement cross-border QR payments.
"We are confident regular visitors to Thailand and Indonesia either for business, work, or leisure, would welcome the convenience in using QR for purchases in the country," Khairuan said in a statement today.
Paving the way for the Malaysia-Thailand collaboration is Public Bank Bhd, which became the first Malaysian bank together with Razer Merchant Services as the first merchant acquirer provider to participate in the linkage as well as Kasikornbank and Siam Commercial Bank from Thailand.
As for the Malaysia-Indonesia linkage, among the participating banks enabling the Malaysia-Indonesia linkage is Bank Indonesia, CIMB Niaga, Bank Sinarmas, Bank Central Asia, Bank Mega, Bank Permata, Bank Syariah Indonesia as well as Bank BPD Bali along with Bank Mandiri as the merchant acquirer.
The Malaysia-Indonesia linkage will also allow payments from e-wallets via ShopeePay, Ottocash, DANA, and LinkAja.
PayNet said in the coming months more banks and merchant acquirers from all three countries respectively were expected to participate.
Malaysians abroad can make payments at participating merchants in Thailand or Indonesia by simply launching their mobile banking or eWallet app to scan the merchants' QR code in the respective countries.
Conversely, the people from Thailand and Indonesia visiting Malaysia can do the same by scanning DuitNow QR standees to make payments at any participating merchants in Malaysia.
Khairuan said moreover, businesses and small merchants in Malaysia's neighbouring countries stood to gain.
"The opposite applies for visiting Thai nationals and Indonesians to our country. We anticipate higher e-payment adoption can be achieved between these countries, especially with more competitive exchange rates for cross-border purchases," he added.