Indonesia is poised to take a serious step in realizing its digital payments ambitions as Bank Indonesia (BI) plans to expand the Indonesian Quick Response Standard (QRIS) to China and South Korea by 2026.
This development represents a big step within the country’s technique to expand the country’s payment system beyond national borders, positioning QRIS as a regional and even global player in digital transactions.
Vision of expansion
Bank Indonesia’s drive to internationalize QRIS reflects its broader goal of strengthening Indonesia’s role within the regional payments infrastructure.
Launched in 2019, QRIS has rapidly expanded across the country, serving tens of hundreds of thousands of users and enabling hundreds of thousands of merchants to simply accept seamless, standard QR payments.
Following the successes already achieved in Southeast Asia – namely Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand – BI is now entering larger and more complex economies.
The decision to prioritize China and South Korea is driven by each economic and strategic reasoning. These are Indonesia’s principal tourism and trade partners.
By enabling QRIS payments in these countries, BI supports Indonesian tourists abroad and, conversely, opens access to foreign visitors spending in Indonesia.
In this fashion, BI goals to deepen cross-border financial connections while capturing more of the digital payments value chain across Asia.
How QRIS will work in China
BI has entered the sandbox or pilot testing phase in partnership with UnionPay International, the Indonesian Association of Payment Systems (ASPI) and a number of other domestic switching service providers, including Rintis Sejahtera, Alto Network, Artajasa and Jalin Payment Nusantara.
In this sandbox phase, each inbound and outbound transactions are tested, which implies that not only Indonesians in China pays using QRIS, but Chinese tourists in Indonesia can even use local QR systems connected to QRIS.
This two-way functionality distinguishes the China plan from some previous cross-border QRIS deployments, where QRIS was only utilized by Indonesians abroad. To enable this integration, BI and its partners had to beat technical and regulatory challenges.
They needed to align business arrangements, design a mutually acceptable operating system, and ensure compliance of the legal framework between Indonesia’s ASPI and China’s payment authorities.
QRIS in South Korea
On the South Korean front, the method is a little more advanced, but it surely is progressing steadily. Sandbox testing between QRIS stakeholders in Indonesia and South Korea began in late 2025, in accordance with CNA.id, in accordance with BI.
The central bank goals for full implementation by 2026, subject to final agreements between ASPI and the Korea Telecommunications and Financial Settlements Institute.
These arrangements include adapting not only the technical infrastructure but additionally regulatory supervision, because the payment authority structures in each country are different.
The Korean integration is an element of a broader BI technique to connect QRIS with more global systems. Beyond China and South Korea, BI has expressed interest in partnering with India and Saudi Arabia, although regulatory and industry complexities remain.
Implications and advantages for Indonesia
If successful, the launch of QRIS in China and South Korea could bring several significant advantages to Indonesia.
First, it could expand the usefulness of QRIS for Indonesian residents traveling abroad, allowing them to pay using familiar systems without having to convert money or rely solely on bank cards.
From an inbound tourism perspective, cross-border QRIS means foreign visitors can more easily use their QR apps in Indonesia, increasing their spending at local shops, restaurants or tourist establishments.
Moreover, this move strengthens Indonesia’s ambition to develop into a central node within the Asian digital payments ecosystem. By exporting its national QR standard, BI is strengthening its influence and constructing a digital infrastructure that may integrate with other payment systems across the region.
The strategy also supports the federal government’s broader digital economy goals by driving the mixing of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by extending their customer reach to international tourists and cross-border shoppers.
Challenges and threats for the longer term
Despite the ambition, the road to full QRIS implementation in China and South Korea shouldn’t be without obstacles.
According to Antara News, the important thing challenges include adapting regulations, as not all countries submit their powers over payment systems to the central bank.
There are also technical complexities involved in ensuring real-time settlement, currency conversion and interoperability without compromising security and user experience.
From a business perspective, onboarding merchants in foreign markets and convincing them to adopt a foreign QR standard will be difficult.
Additionally, cross-border QR payments may face competition from entrenched local payment giants, especially in China, where QR payments are already deeply woven into on a regular basis life.
