On Friday (17/11/2023), the central banks of Singapore and Indonesia announced the launch of cross-border payment services as a part of efforts to enhance connectivity within the region. A joint statement by Bank Indonesia (BI) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said customers of the 12 banks in each countries can now pay merchants in each countries by scanning QR codes.
MAS managing director Ravi Menon said the scheme would boost spending on cross-border e-commerce and tourism between Singapore and Indonesia. Indonesia is the biggest economy and the fourth most populous country in Southeast Asia, with 270 million people. In the primary half of 2023, a couple of million travelers from Indonesia visited Singapore. The statement also said that each central banks will create a framework to enable cross-border payments in local currencies in 2024.
Singapore has already linked its QR payment service with China, Malaysia and Thailand. Menon said in a speech on the FinTech Festival in Singapore earlier this week that “users world wide should have the opportunity to send money across borders in a protected, efficient and reasonably priced way.” Singapore and Malaysia also launched a brand new service on Friday to enable quick cross-border payments between the 2 neighboring countries, in accordance with a joint statement from MAS and the Central Bank of Malaysia. Singapore offers similar services with Thailand and India.
