OCBC launches UnionPay QR feature for cross-border payments
Michelle Zhu
OCBC Digital banking app users will be able to make cross-border retail payments in 47 markets, using a new UnionPay QR feature that is slated to launch on Friday (Aug 4).
This will eliminate the need to download, set up and fund third-party payment apps or queue for currency exchange, said OCBC on Tuesday.
Payments will be made directly from customers’ OCBC Singapore accounts, up to the daily transaction limit of S$1,000 at no additional fees or charges. Exchange rates will be shown to users on the app before they confirm their transactions.
Sunny Quek, OCBC’s head of global consumer financial services, said the latest UnionPay tie-up will be especially beneficial to the bank’s customers who are travelling to mainland China.
“We expect QR payments to be the primary mode of payment for retail purchases of smaller value. With travellers between the two areas expected to increase with the restoration of the visa-free facility and major upcoming events like the Hangzhou Asian Games, we believe customers will appreciate this seamless payment method.”
The OCBC Digital app is set to undergo further enhancements in September this year, allowing users to generate a QR code for merchants to scan and effect the payment.
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OCBC said this practice, known as the “customer present mode”, is common in several markets, including mainland China.
It will be additional to the “merchant present mode” practice of the new feature to be rolled out on Aug 4, which requires customers to scan QR codes presented by merchants with their OCBC Digital app.
The new scan-and-pay feature on the OCBC Digital app comes after the bank and Chinese financial services provider UnionPay International inked a memorandum of understanding in April 2023.
Other cross-border payment linkages made by the bank over the last year include peer-to-merchant transactions with Malaysia’s DuitNow QR and Thailand’s PromptPay QR.
Beyond retail banking, OCBC’s business banking customers are also able to accept UnionPay QR payments via the bank’s OneCollect digital merchant collections solution.
Over 100 mobile wallets outside mainland China are UnionPay QR-enabled, according to the bank. Users of these mobile wallets can pay businesses that use OneCollect by scanning the UnionPay QR code.
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