Cross-border QR payments for Cambodia and Vietnam

Liquid Group, a regional mobile payment services group headquartered in Singapore, will partner with Wing (Cambodia) Limited Specialised Bank -Cambodia’s leading mobile banking services provider – to enable cross-border QR payments for inbound transactions into Cambodia.

With this partnership, Liquid Group and Wing will support cross-border merchant- and consumer-presented QR code payment transactions, enabling Wing’s merchant partners across the kingdom of Cambodia to accept QR payment apps of Liquid Group and its partners. Liquid Group will also partner with Wing to deliver additional innovative value-added services to their customers through its integrated cross-border payment and marketing platform for partners.

Jeremy Tan, Founder and CEO of Liquid Group, said: “Following the establishment of our integrated regional payment network – XNAP in 2019, we are excited to head into our second year of opening up new corridors across the region to facilitate cross-border QR payments across Singapore, Hong Kong[refer to Innovation Hong Kong’s earlier piece here: https://innovationhongkong.com/gallery/liquid-group-expands-its-cross-border-qr-payment-partnerships-to-hong-kong/], Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and now Cambodia. We are delighted to partner with Wing, Cambodia’s leading mobile payments player, allowing us to support financial inclusion for the underbanked and unbanked communities in Cambodia, in tandem with our goal of advancing cashless societies across the region.”

XNAP Network (www.xnap.network) is an open API based QR payment acceptance network that enables the cross-border acceptance of bank and non-bank QR payment apps across multiple markets in the region. By spearheading the largest cross-border interoperability framework, Liquid Group is an industry leader in the creation of a more connected and robust mobile payment ecosystem for all.

Wing (Cambodia) Limited Specialised Bank is Cambodia’s leading mobile banking services provider and is one of the few specialized banks in the world. Established in 2009, Wing has transformed the way Cambodians send and receive money, using mobile phones for anytime-anywhere convenience.

Wing remains at the forefront of the mobile money and electronic payment services market in Cambodia with 100% district coverage through its nationwide network of over 8,000 Wing Cash Xpress outlets. It has partnerships with over 40,000 merchants, including both local vendors and global industry leaders such as Mastercard, MoneyGram, AliPay, WeChat Pay and Western Union.

Wing also provides funding and payment solutions to the corporate sector via its enterprise services. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and larger companies can use Wing’s payroll and disbursement services for employees, helping to encourage the growth and spread of its payment ecosystem.

Mr. Manu Rajan, CEO of Wing, said: “We are excited and really looking forward for this collaboration with Liquid Group, a leading QR payment services group. This collaboration reflects our strategic approach in providing convenient access to mobile financial services that are safe, secure and instant to every customer through our robust ecosystem and partners across the region. Wing has always made efforts to provide more for our customers.”

In a further development Liquid Group will strengthen its cross-border contactless QR payment network through a strategic collaboration with PayME as its partner acquirer in Vietnam. The partnership will enable merchants from PayME’s extensive network in Vietnam to accept multiple QR payment apps from Liquid Group and its issuer partners across the region.

PayME is the first and only cross-border payment service provider in Vietnam. In 2019, PayME was one of the licensed organisations to provide intermediary payment services such as cash collection and payment services, electronic money transfer and e-wallet services by the State Bank of Vietnam.

Through the partnership, customers of Liquid Group and its issuer partners will be able to use their preferred payment apps and e-wallets for their local and overseas QR payment transactions with merchants from PayME’s extensive network in Vietnam, starting with cities like Ho Chi Minh, Ha Noi, Danang, Nha Trang.

With the strong development of mobile payments and e-commerce in Vietnam, PayME merchants will be able to accept cross-border merchant- and consumer-present QR code payment transactions, as well as online QR payments for merchants with e-commerce presence using Liquid Group’s XNAP Network.

During and post COVID-19, society is entering a new normal now as user and merchant behaviour have changed and this has accelerated the use of contactless payments. PayME sees the long-term benefits for their merchants addressing not only the convenience of contactless payments, but also being socially responsible on publicly shared devices where their merchants can make it safer and cleaner for their customers to pay by having more control over physical proximity.

Jeremy Tan [Liquid Group], said: “We are excited with our latest partnership with PayME, expanding our regional XNAP Network to include Vietnam and to help drive the next phase of growth in both online and offline markets. COVID-19 has driven an increase in consumer and merchant demand for mobile payment solutions as a contactless alternative to cash and we are quick to pivot and expand our payment solutions to include online QR payments.”

Mr. Minh Nguyen, COO of PayME, added: “The mutual cooperation with Liquid Group will enable its partners’ users in the Southeast Asian countries to make payments at Vietnamese local merchants more easily.”