UnionPay Partners With Cambodia, Thailand to Make Payments Easier
By Qing Na
UnionPay International Co. Ltd. has expanded its QR code payment interoperability initiative to include Cambodia and Thailand, advancing its efforts to facilitate payments between China and Southeast Asia.
The partnership between China’s state-owned UnionPay International and the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) will allow users of the central bank’s Bakong e-wallet to pay by scanning UnionPay QR codes in Cambodia and China, as well as 46 other countries and regions covered by UnionPay, according to a joint announcement last week. It also allows Bakong’s e-wallet users to scan WeChat Pay’s QR codes in China.
“This initiative is conducive to promoting innovation and development in Cambodia’s digital payment sector,” NBC Governor Chea Serey said in a statement. “It will play a significant role in advancing financial inclusion, international trade, and tourism in the country,” she said.
Meanwhile, the collaboration between UnionPay International and Thailand’s National Interbank Transaction Management and Exchange Co. Ltd. (NITMX) — a company governed by the Bank of Thailand that operates the country’s mobile payment system PromptPay — aims to make it more convenient for Chinese visitors to make payments locally.
Under the collaboration, Chinese visitors will be allowed to pay by scanning PromptPay QR codes with UnionPay’s payment app or banks’ apps connected to UnionPay’s online payment platform, according to a separate announcement last week.
The collaboration will help boost the development of Thailand’s digital payment ecosystem, Chatchai Dusadenoad, managing director of NITMX, said in the announcement.
In January, UnionPay International struck a similar deal with the Indonesia Payment System Association. Similar projects were established in Vietnam, Laos and Malaysia in recent years.
Contact reporter Qing Na (qingna@caixin.com) and editor Jonathan Breen (jonathanbreen@caixin.com)
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