OCBC joins Singtel's regional e-payment alliance

The bank’s customers will soon be able to pay using QR codes in Thailand and Japan.

OCBC Bank customers can soon go cashless in Thailand and Japan after the bank joined Singtel’s VIA mobile payment alliance, according to a press release.

By Q1 2020, QR code payments will be available to customers at more than 1.7 million merchant partners on VIA’s network through the OCBC Pay Anyone app. The partnership also promises competitive and transparent exchange rates.

Starting November this year, the OCBC app will also allow clients who are Singtel Dash users to top up their Dash accounts. The app will also allow customers to make peer-to-peer e-payments to anyone with a Singapore mobile number or PayNow directly from their bank account.

OCBC is the first Singaporean bank to join the alliance and the second regionally after Thailand’s KASIKORNBANK. Singtel and OCBC are also exploring the possibility of linking their rewards and merchant programmes.

Launched in October 2018, the VIA alliance aims to unify the Asia Pacific e-payment scene and counts Singtel Dash, AIS GLOBAL Pay and NETSTARS amongst its current members. VIA hopes to include KASIKORNBANK’s K Plus, Axiata Digital’s Boost Malaysia, and Indonesia’s LinkAja in the future.

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