Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and Bank Indonesia (BI) have jointly announced a cross-border QR payment linkage. The feature, currently in the pilot phase, enables instant, secure, and seamless payments between the two countries and is expected to be launched commercially in the third quarter of this year.
The linkage enables consumers in both countries to make retail payments by scanning Malaysia’s DuitNow or Indonesia’s QRIS (Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard) QR codes displayed by offline and online merchants. Later on, it will also be expanded to support cross-border remittance, where users can make real-time fund transfers.
According to BI Deputy Governor Doni P. Joewono, transaction costs for the currency exchange should be lower as the linkage uses exchange rates provided by Appointed Cross Currency Dealer (ACCD) banks under the Local Currency Settlement (LCS) Framework — a bilateral agreement [PDF] aimed at increasing trade between Malaysia and Indonesia.
Malaysia and Thailand also have the same relationship, as Phase 2 of the QR payment linkage officially commenced this week, enabling residents of the two countries to make retail payments using each country’s respective national QR codes. BNM and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have also revealed plans to link DuitNow with Singapore’s PayNow in the fourth quarter of 2022.
(Source: BNM)
