JAKARTA: Indonesia’s central bank is working to expand its digital payment system to Saudi Arabia, India and Hong Kong, as it seeks to further promote economic connectivity across Asia.
In Southeast Asia, Indonesia has been leading the adoption of payments using quick-response code, or QR, part of a global shift to digital finance that allows users to leave cash behind.
Since 2019, Bank Indonesia has required digital payment services to use standardized QR codes known as QRIS — pronounced as Kris — to ensure all banks and electronic wallets are interoperable, giving way to a seamless payment system that is now almost ubiquitous in most major cities in the country, boasting nearly 62 million users.
Central bank officials are in talks with their counterparts in Saudi Arabia, India and Hong Kong to further QRIS’s reach beyond Indonesia, after the system expanded to 10 countries, including China, Singapore, Japan and South Korea.
“We are continuing discussions with India for cross-border (QRIS payment). We have also started in-depth discussions with Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong,” Bank Indonesia deputy governor Filianingsih Hendarta said at a press briefing earlier this week.
“Hopefully this can be implemented soon because for its implementation we have to pay attention to the readiness of each country, considering their regulations, (payment) infrastructure, industry (participation) and also coordination with authorities.”
Such connected payment ecosystems aim to ease transactions for international travelers, who only have to use their local payment apps to make purchases abroad.
Under its arrangement with China, for example, Indonesian travelers can use QRIS-enabled e-wallets and banking apps to make payments by scanning QR codes registered under Alipay and Union Pay across China, which number more than 80 million.
Meanwhile, Chinese visitors using the Alipay or UnionPay apps can make payments at more than 44 million QRIS merchants across Indonesia, most of which are micro, small-and-medium enterprises (MSMEs) that make up about 99 percent of businesses nationwide.
“This cross-border QRIS simplifies payment transactions between countries, and is also used by residents of other countries who are visiting Indonesia,” Hendarta said.
“(It) also boosts real economic growth through tourism and small and medium business sectors.”
