Visa says it is collaborating with QR payment providers across the Asia-Pacific region to kick off a scheme that would enable digital wallet users in the region to make QR payments at merchants when traveling abroad.
Under the scheme, revealed Wednesday at the Singapore FinTech Festival, digital wallet providers like Lakala in mainland China, Touch 'n Go Digital in Malaysia, and Vietnamese wallets VNPay and Zalopay will become Visa's QR connectors, enabling their QR merchant networks to accept Visa payments.
That will allow customers using those wallets to use them to make QR payments at merchants at home or overseas that accept Visa and QR payments.
Visa said it is working with payments technology company Juspay to provide technical capabilities to QR payment providers for the service. Visa also said it will kick off a pilot programme in Singapore before rolling it out across the region over the next 12 months.
One rationale for the service is that QR codes are becoming increasingly popular payment options in Southeast Asia. According to Visa’s most recent consumer payment attitudes study, while card payments continue to be the preferred mode of payment for 34% of Southeast Asian consumers, QR payments using digital wallets is an increasingly close second at 26%.
Expanding QR payments can also benefit merchants by lowering their costs while simplifying their operations, with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in particular being able to expand their reach and serve more domestic and international consumers, said T.R. Ramachandran, Visa’s senior VP and head of products and solutions for Asia Pacific at Visa.
“We have a game-changer here as we are also bringing financial inclusion by enabling lower-cost QR payments into the traditional cards network, while giving consumers and merchants more choice," said Ramachandran in a statement.
The Visa announcement came a day after rival payments giant Mastercard launched its own service to expand the reach of digital wallets: Mastercard Pay Local, which enables digital wallet users in Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and Africa to shop at any participating merchant that accepts wallet payments.
