PayNet, Ant Group Enable DuitNow QR Payments For Travellers With Alipay+ Supported E-Wallets

Alex Cheong Pui Yin

8th November 2023 - 2 min read

Payments Network Malaysia (PayNet) has teamed up with China’s Ant Group to enable travellers from abroad with Alipay+ supported e-wallets to pay for their purchases in Malaysia via the DuitNow QR code.

With this collaboration in place, travellers from the following countries can now use their home e-wallets to conveniently make cross-border QR payments with 1.8 million merchants in Malaysia by scanning the DuitNow QR code:

Alipay (China)
AlipayHK (Hong Kong SAR)
HelloMoney by AUB (The Philippines)
Hipay (Mongolia)
MPay (Macau SAR)
Naver Pay (South Korea)
Toss Pay (South Korea)
TrueMoney (Thailand)

This comes following an earlier memorandum of understanding (MOU) that PayNet and Ant Group had signed back in August, which also sought to enhance cross-border payments between Malaysia and several other Asian countries. At that time, five e-wallets from five countries could tap into this capability. Following this latest effort, both parties also said that there are plans to bring on more payment partners in the future.

Meanwhile, Malaysians travelling abroad can also soon use the DuitNow QR code to pay at Alipay+ global merchants, expected to begin in 2024 onwards. This means that they will be able to transact with tens of millions merchants in more than 50 markets outside of Malaysia.

“With our collaboration with Ant Group, I am seeing a new Silk Route emerging, one that is powered by cross-border payment interoperability. Businesses in the DuitNow QR ecosystem can immediately access travellers from eight more countries in an efficient, seamless, and secure way, bolstering trade and commerce,” said the group chief executive officer of PayNet, Farhan Ahmad.

Farhan also said that these linkages could spur the ASEAN+3 economic integration sooner than expected. Briefly, the ASEAN+3 economic integration refers to the economic cooperation between the 10 ASEAN member states, along with China, Japan, and Republic of Korea.

Outside of this partnership, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) itself has already been hard at work, setting up cross-border QR code payment linkages with several Southeast Asian (SEA) countries since 2021, namely Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia.

(Sources: New Straits Times, The Star)

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Alex Cheong Pui Yin

Previously covered recruitment-related stories and had a short stint as a copywriter for the property industry. She subsequently developed an interest in investment and robo-advisors.

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