SINGAPORE: The Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) bank is confident that cross-border QR code payments will grow fourfold this year. They expect 250,000 transactions, four times more than last year.
The Business Times reports that OCBC has been working hard to make digital payments easier over the past year, integrating five major cross-border payment platforms into its digital app.
These platforms include Alipay+, UnionPay International, Malaysia’s DuitNow, Thailand’s PromptPay, and Indonesia’s Quick Response Indonesian Standard.
This means people with OCBC accounts in Singapore can now use their app to pay with QR codes when they travel, just like they do with Nets QR codes at home. They don’t need to carry cash or download extra apps.
OCBC also shared that QR code payments have become very popular lately. In 2023, the number of payments through their app went up by 65% each month, and the value of these payments went up by 80%.
This is because QR code payments “are cheap to set up and are accessible,” they said.
The bank also believes this trend will continue because QR code payments are becoming more common in Southeast Asia and China, especially with more travellers heading to China, driven by a new visa agreement between Singapore and China.
Mr Sunny Quek, who leads OCBC’s consumer services, said they’re confident they can increase cross-border QR transactions by four times.
He said, “The evolution of the payment landscape, coupled with travel becoming the new normal again, has given us confidence that we will be able to grow cross-border QR transaction numbers by four times.”
He mentioned partnerships with Alipay+ and UnionPay International have greatly helped, especially in China.
China is OCBC’s biggest market for cross-border QR payments, making up 57% of transactions in 2023. Thailand and Malaysia come next, with 20% and 18% of transactions, respectively.
Looking ahead, OCBC expects QR code payments in Southeast Asia to grow. They predict a 590% increase over the next five years, from 13 billion transactions in 2023 to 90 billion in 2028. /TISG
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