Southeast Asian central banks are targeting to link their payment systems within the year that will let people buy goods and services throughout the region by scanning QR codes.
By November, the five largest economies of Southeast Asia: the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand, will sign an agreement on the integration of their mobile payment systems. This will make cross-border transfers much more efficient without using the USD Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo said in a panel on the sidelines of the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Bali.
Payments made through the system will use local-currency settlements between the countries, meaning payments transacted in Thailand using an Indonesian app would be directly exchanged between rupiah and baht, bypassing the need for US dollar as intermediary.
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