PETALING JAYA: UnionPay International (UPI) has partnered with Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PayNet), Malaysia’s national retail digital payments network, to enable cross-border UnionPay QR payment to be accepted in Malaysia via DuitNow QR, Malaysia's national QR standard, and vice versa.
Beginning September 2023, tourists from China who are UnionPay QR users can make cross-border payments at DuitNow QR acceptance points across Malaysia. Reciprocal enablement of DuitNow QR at UnionPay QR acceptance points in China & countries where UnionPay QR is present will follow at a later date.
UnionPay has over 40 million merchants in 47 markets globally. This collaboration will enable UnionPay cardholders to conveniently use all UnionPay enabled wallets to scan DuitNow QR Code and make payments in Malaysia.
Malaysia has the second highest rate of cashless payment adoption in Southeast Asia and is expected to have 25 million mobile wallets users by 2026. With this partnership, DuitNow QR merchants in Malaysia will be able to better serve Chinese tourists visiting Malaysia with over 1.7 million acceptance points nationwide.
UnionPay China president and UPI chairman Cai Jianbo said, “The collaboration is significant for both sides as cross-border travel gradually resumes. In addition to UnionPay card transactions on the ATMs and POS terminals, Chinese consumers visiting Malaysia will be able to use UnionPay mobile payment products they are familiar with for a better spending experience.”
In the future, he added Malaysian residents may pay with DuitNow QR enabled wallets conveniently at UnionPay QR Code merchants worldwide. “The partnership also marks the first implementation of UnionPay’s cross-border QR Code payment interoperability model in the Asean region. It lays a solid foundation for collaborations on cross-border QR Code payments within the region, driving the transformation and development of the payment industry,” said Cai.
PayNet Group CEO Farhan Ahmad said that the partnership opens opportunities for DuitNow QR merchants in Malaysia to better serve the estimated five million tourists from China.
“We are proud to be the first country in Asean to have this collaboration with UnionPay, expanding on our existing cross-border partnerships with Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore. It allows us to leverage on the exponential network effect of a partner with an extensive global presence. DuitNow QR payments will soon be accessible in markets where UnionPay is present,” he added.
