Singapore, Indonesia launch cross-border QR payment service

Logos of the two banks (Source: mas.gov.sg)

Hanoi (VNA) - The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Bank Indonesia (BI) have freshly debuted a cross-border quick response (QR) payment linkage between the two nations.

In a joint media release, the two central banks said this linkage enables customers of participating financial institutions to make seamless cross-border retail payments using their existing mobile banking applications to scan QRIS (Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard) or NETS QR codes displayed by merchants in Indonesia and Singapore, respectively.

MAS Managing Director Ravi Menon said the linkage will promote cross-border e-commerce activities and tourism spending across Singapore and Indonesia, by individuals and small businesses.

With travel rebounding in the post-pandemic period, in the first half of 2023, there were 600,000 arrivals from Singapore to Indonesia, and 1.1 million travellers from Indonesia to Singapore, according to official statistics.

BI and MAS have also signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to establish a local currency settlement framework, which will be operationalised in 2024./.