Over 5mil cross-border QR payment transactions made last year, says Bank Negara

 

BNM governor Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour said the central bank’s priority this year was to increase payment connections between Malaysia and other countries, especially Asean member states.

KUALA LUMPUR: 

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) recorded over five million cross-border QR payment transactions last year, its governor Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour said today.

Rasheed said the 5.2 million cross-border payments in 2024 represented a fourfold increase from the previous year.

“Our collective payment connectivity efforts are set to significantly boost our individual economies and Asean as a whole. By facilitating seamless payments, we provide a key catalyst for enhancing regional trade and investment, and offer travellers a familiar and safe digital payment solution,” he said at the launch of the second phase of the Malaysia-Cambodia cross-border QR payment system here today.

Apart from Cambodia, Malaysia also has cross-border payment initiatives with Singapore, Thailand, China and Indonesia.

Rasheed said the central bank’s priority this year was to increase payment connections between Malaysia and other countries, especially Asean member states.

BNM will also focus on managing risks arising from payment connectivity to preserve confidence in a secure and thriving payment landscape for Asean.

With the launch of phase 2 of the cross-border QR payment linkage between Malaysia and Cambodia today, Malaysian travellers can now seamlessly pay Cambodian merchants by scanning the KHQR code using native mobile payment applications of participating financial institutions.

Meanwhile, Cambodian travellers to Malaysia can continue to make payments using the Bakong application by scanning Malaysia’s DuitNow QR code, a capability introduced in phase 1.

Phase 1, launched in September last year, allows consumers and merchants in both countries to make and receive instant cross-border QR payments. - FMT