Seven players unite for QR in Singapore
Seven mobile wallets, acquirers and payment networks, comprising Diners Club, EZi Wallet, EZ-Link, Liquid Pay, Mastercard, UnionPay International and Wirecard, formed a consortium to enable interoperable QR code payments in Singapore for consumers and merchants.
In line with the SG QR initiative, the group will support an interoperable QR framework that allows customers to pay with their mobile wallets and cards at consortium merchants.
Mobile wallets and acquirers can also choose to supplement their offerings by LiquidNet, an interoperable API platform developed by Liquid Group that is open to debit and credit cards, wallets, telecom providers, technology companies and other local and international payment apps.
The initiative will make mobile payment easier for participating merchants, who will now be able to accept consortium QR payments on a single merchant system, streamlining merchant onboarding and support.
This initiative comes on the heels of the Payments Council’s endorsement of the EMVCo compliant SG QR specifications for electronic payments, which will allow SG QR to be deployed by payment service providers in Singapore through 2018.
SG QR will support payments via local and international credit cards, debit cards and stored value wallets.
“We view this collaboration as an important development in speeding up the ubiquitous adoption of the cashless payment landscape in Singapore. We are confident that this platform will enhance interoperability and increase the scale of adoption by users and merchants,” said James Koh, executive director of Diners Club Singapore.
“This initiative will go a long way in easing the confusion faced by merchants and consumers in adopting QR payments. It also enables local fintech startups like us to compete and thrive in a supportive ecosystem that we hope will propagate to the rest of the industry,” said Ian Lee, founder of EZi Technology.
Nicholas Lee, chief executive of EZLink, said: “As a member of the SG QR task force, EZ-Link is committed to expedite the implementation of a national QR standard to advance Singapore on its cashless journey.”
“Liquid Group has always viewed interoperability and universal acceptance as a critical component in cultivating a cashless society,” said Jeremy Tan, founder and chief executive of Liquid Group.
Deborah Heng, country manager of Mastercard Singapore, said: “This collaboration will be significant in driving acceptance among consumers and merchants. This is part of our commitment to support the nation’s vision to build an open-loop QR code system based on global EMVCo QR standard.”
“UnionPay serves the world’s largest Cardholder base of over 6.3 billion. QR code payments will also be a key catalyst in UnionPay’s drive to help Singapore realise its vision of becoming a truly cashless society,” said Wenhui Yang, general manager of UnionPay International Southeast Asia.
“QR code payments are becoming mainstream in many parts of Singapore,” said Jeffry Ho, regional managing director at Wirecard.
The consortiums goal is to promote electronic payments in Singapore, in line with the Singapore Payments Roadmap, which aims to support interoperability among 2 million customers and 50,000 merchants in Singapore by the end of the second quarter.