Pay Abroad Like a Local: QR Codes Bridge Payment Gaps in Asia

Cross-border payments have mostly been limited to cash or cards. But imagine travelling to a new country and paying using their payment app from your home country just by scanning QR codes. In Asia, this is now a reality.

When it comes to payments in Asian countries, the level of integration is higher and is also growing fast. Ant International has enabled cross-border payments via local payment apps, allowing anyone to scan a payment QR code in another country with their local app to make instant cross-border payments.

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The Singapore-headquartered company recently showcased its cross-border capabilities to several media platforms, including Finance Magnates, and industry analysts at an event in Malaysia. This included a real-world QR-based cross-border payment experience.

Cross-Border Payments with QR

The end experience is simple: someone from Vietnam can visit Malaysia (or any other supported country) and scan local QR codes with their home country’s payment app. The cross-border transaction happens instantly.

For travellers, this removes the need to carry foreign currency, while merchants can reduce the high fees often linked to credit card transactions.

Ant International’s global e-wallet gateway, Alipay+, now connects to more than 40 digital wallets worldwide. This expands the network to over 150 million merchants and more than 2 billion customers.

The network includes more than 10 national QR systems, including Singapore's SGQR, Malaysia's DuitNow, South Korea's ZeroPay, Thailand's PromptPay, Indonesia's QRIS, and Sri Lanka's LankaPay.

The partnership also extends to countries such as Vietnam, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia.

“A broader and deeper network means we can work with more partners at different levels to deliver more innovative, trusted, and high-return fintech solutions in the world's fastest-growing markets,” said Peng Yang, CEO of Ant International.

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QR-Based Payments Are Shadowing Competitors

The global QR code payment market was valued at approximately $14.7 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow to $38.2 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 17 per cent.

More optimistic estimates from Market.us place the market at $14.3 billion in 2025, growing to $118.2 billion by 2035 at a CAGR of 23.5 per cent. Juniper Research projects total QR payment spending to reach $3 trillion globally by 2025, with over 2.2 billion people using QR payments.

Asia-Pacific is the clear global leader, holding a 52.6 per cent share of the QR payment market in 2025, worth $7.53 billion in revenue. The region is growing at roughly twice the rate of Europe and North America, and Juniper Research forecasts that the value of APAC QR payments will grow by 300 per cent by 2029, up from $290 billion in 2025. Countries driving this next phase include Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

China clearly leads, with more than 90 per cent of mobile payments being made using QR codes.

Ant International’s aim, meanwhile, appears to be to capture this mobile payments growth across the region, if not beyond. Its platforms already process an average of over 20 million transactions daily.

Yang also highlighted the company’s strategy to combine its four primary businesses, Alipay+, Antom, Bettr, and WorldFirst into a connected solution for businesses of all sizes. It is also using AI in many of its solutions, including an agentic mobile protocol, an AI-as-a-service platform, and several others.