Participating merchants in Hong Kong will be able to accept Singapore PayNow payments without infrastructure or operational charges. Moreover, Singaporeans will not have to face currency exchange rates or cross-border fees.

General manager of Allinpay Merchants Services, Tay Tiong Hean, commented: “It is timely to spearhead PayNow QR payments at Hong Kong merchants with the resumption of travel. We are confident that this partnership will offer a real-time and seamless digital payment experience through Allinpay’s integrated platform to truly meet our customers’ needs for better cross-borderpayments, cost savings and mobile lifestyle.”

The move is expected to encourage travel between the countries and will generate revenue for participating Hong Kong businesses.

Head of cash products in Singapore and ASEAN at Standard Chartered, Ankur Kanwar, observed: “We are laying the tracks for a whole new digital world of transactions. With capabilities to access over 20 instant payments infrastructures globally, we look forward to extending this solution to more markets in the future, enabling our fintech partners to deliver a fast and frictionless experience to their merchants and boost the tourism economy.”

The solution is a first for QR payments in Hong Kong, through Allinpay offers other payment solutions in the country through Alipay and WeChat Pay digital wallets.