A new study from Juniper Research has found the volume of QR code payments in the leading Southeast Asian market will increase from 13 billion in 2023 to 90 billion in 2028.

Juniper Research has estimated that the volume of QR code payments in the leading Southeast Asian market will increase by 590% over five years, surging from 13 billion in 2023 to 90 billion in 2028.

The study shows that QR payments are growing much faster in developing markets than in Western ones due as they boost financial inclusion, often lacked in emerging economies.

In addition, trusted national QR payment schemes such as India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Brazil’s Pix, have played a key role in encouraging market adoption. Their success was inspiring for similar schemes implemented in 2023 in Kenya and Bangladesh.

In 2022, India’s UPI became globally available via open APIs and, this year, India decided to open its UPI payment gateway for NRIS (non-resident Indians), causing a stir among fintech enterprises, with UAE-based fintech platform Xare launching UPI integration. Initiatives like that promote the spread of QR code payment systems across the globe.

Furthermore, the research found that significant growth in QR payment market volume will come from cross-border interoperability within Southeast Asian markets.

As we have previously reported, Indonesia and Malaysia linked their QR code payment systems to make instant cross-border retail payments, expand markets for local businesses, and facilitate increased settlements in local currency. Earlier, cross-border QR remittances have been enabled between Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.

Singapore and Malaysia have also announced the unification of their cross-border QR code payment merchant systems. It is expected that Singapore and the Philippines will collaborate by the end of 2023, further unifying the payment landscape across the region.