UnionPay International (UPI), a Shanghai-based payment network, in partnership with its counterparts, announced the pilot launch of a cross-border QR payment linkage between China and Indonesia, under the guidance of the two central banks.
At the launch in Beijing, a pilot transaction was carried out using an Indonesian mobile payment application.
In Jakarta, whitelisted users successfully completed transactions via the UnionPay App and Alipay app by scanning QRIS, Indonesia’s unified QR code.
During this sandbox phase, selected users from mainland China can make payments at more than 40 million QRIS merchants in Indonesia.
At the same time, pilot merchants in the UnionPay and Alipay networks in mainland China are able to accept QR payments from 22 Indonesian mobile payment applications.
This initial phase is limited to whitelisted participants and merchants.
The cross-border QR payment linkage is expected to become fully operational within 2025 following the sandbox stage.
The initiative is part of a Government-to-Government (G2G) project between China and Indonesia. In January 2025, UPI signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Indonesian Payment System Association (ASPI), Ant International, and the Bank of China (Hong Kong) Jakarta Branch.
UPI subsequently signed cooperation agreements with Indonesia’s four switch networks, Rintis, ALTO, Artajasa, and Jalin, as well as with Ant International and Alipay.
According to the agreement between the central banks, cross-border QR payments will be settled in the respective local currencies of China and Indonesia.
This framework aims to improve the cross-border payment experience for residents and support merchants in serving a wider customer base.
It also forms part of UPI’s efforts to develop a four-party model in cooperation with industry stakeholders.
UnionPay has so far established or is pursuing similar cross-border QR payment linkages with payment networks in 19 countries and regions outside mainland China, and plans to continue expanding such connectivity.
Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Hong Kong, based on image by shisuka
