Singapore and Malaysia launch cross-border QR code payment links age

Person-to-person fund transfers are targeted to finish by year-end.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has launched a cross-border QR code payment link.

“These linkages will help boost cross-border commerce and enable our merchants, especially small businesses to tap on a wider pool of consumers. This QR code linkage between Singapore and Malaysia is an important milestone in ASEAN’s journey towards seamless regional payments connectivity,” managing director of MAS, Ravi Menon, said,

Participating financial institutions and their customers will now be able to transact retail payments through NETS QR and DuitNow QR codes.

For on-site payments, store vendors or merchants will have physical QR codes displayed. It will also support online cross-boundary e-commerce transfers.

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The Singapore-Malaysia collaboration was also backed up by Network for Electronic Transfers (Singapore) Pte. Ltd (NETS), the Association of Banks in Singapore, Payments Network Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. (PayNet), and participating financial institutions from both countries.

The next phase of the project is enabling cross-border account-to-account fund transfers and remittances, said the MAS and BNM. This feature would make real-time fund transfers between the two countries possible and convenient through a mobile phone.

This service will be made through PayNow and DuitNow with the expectation to launch by end-2023.