Visa Expands Cross-Border QR Payments in Asia Pacific
Hey Payment Fanatic!
Today, Visa announced its collaboration with top QR payment providers across the Asia Pacific, letting consumers use their favorite digital wallets to scan and pay via QR codes—even when traveling abroad. This pilot program kicks off in Singapore and will soon roll out across the region, promising a smoother, more unified experience for cross-border payments.
Using Visa’s global network, users of payment apps like Lakala in China, Touch 'n Go in Malaysia, FOMO Pay in Singapore, and others in Taiwan and Vietnam can now simply scan a Visa-enabled QR code and pay securely, just as they would at home.
This breakthrough was made possible through Visa’s partnership with payments tech company Juspay, integrating QR payment capabilities seamlessly across borders. "Consumers accustomed to QR payments at home can now enjoy the same seamless and secure experience abroad," said T.R. Ramachandran, Visa’s SVP for Products and Solutions, Asia Pacific. Visa's vision is clear: consistent, convenient payments—anywhere.
The impact is substantial for both consumers and merchants. Small businesses can now reach more international customers and streamline their processes, while consumers benefit from the growing popularity of QR payments, which, as Visa’s recent study shows, is Southeast Asia’s second most popular payment method.
Seems like a great week for Asian Pacific countries and the Payments industry, enjoy more updates I listed for you below and I'll be back in your inbox tomorrow!
Cheers,
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GOLDEN NUGGET
𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞 (𝐐𝐑) codes appear everywhere, from Restaurant menus to Super Bowl advertising. These square-shaped black & white codes are taking on payments by storm 👇
As companies and consumers have grown increasingly comfortable with QR codes, more companies are adopting them for payments. Influenced by COVID19, contactless payments rapidly gained popularity over traditional payment methods, a trend likely to continue over the next five years. Today, 4% of consumer transactions globally use QR codes, and that number is expected to increase at a 16.1% CAGR by 2030.
Originally, invented in 1994 by Denso Wave in Japan, they were initially used for production, tracking and shipping in the auto industry. Today, some of the largest companies have incorporated that technology for various purposes:
🔸 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 - Venmo, WeChat Pay, Alipay
🔸 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 - Kohl's and other retailers
🔸 𝐋𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐲 - McDonald's, Starbucks, LVMH
🔸 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 - Coinbase, Taco Bell, National Basketball Association (NBA)
Asia-Pacific (APAC), especially China, is empowering the usage of QR codes for payment purposes due to the rise of mobile wallets - WeChat Pay & Alipay - and other SuperApps (closely followed by Africa!).
This technology, usable across all channels, is a creative, inexpensive and efficient way to bypass card rails and old POS hardware and resource-heavy integrations. Today QR codes account for more than 90% of mobile payments in China. From commerce to entertainment and beyond everything in China can be paid for using QR codes.
3 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 of QR code payments benefit customers and merchants alike:
► Contactless payment experience: Using a digital payment option eliminates the need for cards or money to change hands.
► Faster payment, service, and settlements: Digital transactions enable immediate payment, convenience, accurate records, and prompt settlement between financial institutions.
► Affordable and accessible functionality: Lower setup and transaction costs help merchants pass savings along to consumers.
𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞 -- Currently, merchants have two choices to consider when implementing
QR payments:
► 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫-𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐞: The customer presents a QR code for the merchant to scan. Merchants can choose to build their own app for a customer-presented method or choose to accept third-party apps, such as Zelle, Venmo, or PayPal.
► 𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭-𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐞: The merchant's POS system produces a QR code for the customer to scan with a mobile device. In most cases, the customer manually inputs their payment details. A unique code is generated for each transaction.
QR codes are here, growing globally. Don't overlook that technology, it might as well be the key to your processing issues.
Source: Deloitte
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