(17 August 2023 – Asia) The central banks of Singapore and Indonesia are planning to introduce the use of QR codes for cross-border payments between the two countries.
Both banks, Bank Indonesia (BI) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), have stated they intend to introduce the technology into their payment systems before the end of the year.
The plan was originally announced in August 2022 and according to BI deputy governor Filianingsih Hendarta, the project is halfway to completion with three-quarters of the beta testing completed.
Singapore has been a particular forerunner in this space. As far back as 2018, it rolled out what it claimed was the world's first unified payments QR code.
Since then, Singapore has completed a cross-border pilot with Malaysia while Indonesia and Thailand have also linked their respective systems.