Future of QR Payments in South East Asia

The use of QR codes as a payment method is becoming more widespread globally. In developing nations, mobile money providers are at the forefront of implementing QR codes as a digital payment channel.

QR code payment users will exceed 2.2 billion in 2025, up from 1.5 billion in 2020; equating to 29% of all mobile phone users across the world in 2025-Juniper Research.

Increasing demand for the adoption of QR Payments

As the trend towards a cashless society continues to grow, the demand for digital payment options is also increasing. In Southeast Asia, the use of QR payments is emerging rapidly due to the widespread adoption of mobile phones, and the availability of affordable internet access.

The popularity of e-wallets in Southeast Asia has directly contributed to the surge in QR code usage for payments, with numerous options available from banks and non-banking entities.

As per the consumer payments attitude study- consumers reported four major reasons for QR payment usage: the convenience of not needing to carry cash (66%), physical safety (61%), the ease of setup and use (60%), and convenience of not needing to carry a card ( 58%)

QR code payments are most often used in Thailand (52%), Indonesia (50%), Singapore (36%), and Cambodia (36%). For example, in Singapore government has launched the Singapore Quick Response Code (SGQR), a national QR code standard to simplify the payment process for both consumers and merchants by combining multiple QR codes into a single SGQR level.

Recently, the central banks of Indonesia and Singapore have commenced work on a cross-border national QR payment linkage to promote the use of local currencies in bilateral transactions such as trade and direct investments and reduce dependence on the US dollar.

Benefits of QR Payments

- QR payments are the most frictionless payment method that eliminates the need to carry physical cash or a card. For example, a person can scan a dynamic QR code and simply make a payment.

- It eliminates the need to set up costly POS infrastructure and can be easily integrated with any payment methods like cards, wallets, etc.

- The interoperability of the QR codes has opened up limitless possibilities for businesses and banks. QR can be embedded in the merchant’s existing ecosystem to enable seamless transactions. For example, a merchant can generate a unique dynamic QR code for each transaction, customer can easily initiate a payment without the need for manual input of payment details. This can help businesses to streamline payments and improve the overall customer experience.

Talk to us to see how the Bankbuddy QR Payment solutions are enabling the shift to smart payments with embedded dynamic QR, merchant onboarding, hyper-personalized offers, and more.