KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Friday launched a cross-border QR code payment linkage between Malaysia and Singapore.

This payment linkage will allow customers to make retail payments by scanning DuitNow QR and NETS QR codes, both regulators said in a statement, reported Xinhua.

According to the statement, the payment linkage will support in-person payments through the scanning of physical QR codes displayed by merchants, and online cross-border e-commerce transactions.

The linkage is a key milestone in the ongoing collaboration between Malaysia and Singapore to enhance cross-border payment connectivity.

With pre-pandemic annual traffic between the two countries averaging 12 million visitors, the payment linkage will provide merchants and consumers with a more seamless and efficient means to make and receive payments.

This initiative is also a testament to both countries' commitment to improving the cost, speed, access and transparency of cross-border payments, in line with the ASEAN Payment Connectivity Initiative and the G20 Roadmap for Enhancing Cross-border Payments.

In the next phase, BNM and MAS plan to expand the payment linkage to enable cross-border account-to-account fund transfers and remittances. This will allow users to make real-time fund transfers between Malaysia and Singapore conveniently using just the recipient's mobile phone number via DuitNow and PayNow.

--BERNAMA-XINHUA