Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim will work with ASEAN regional leaders to implement the agreement as soon as possible to have an economic impact, not only on Malaysia, but also on the region in the near future.

Efforts made to promote digital payment integration in ASEAN

Vietnam's digital payment ecosystem is undergoing a remarkable transformation, driven by a tech-savvy population, government initiatives, and innovative financial solutions, according to finextra.com, a leading UK newswire and information source for worldwide financial technology.

Bank Indonesia (BI) has reported that the volume of transactions using Quick Response Indonesian Standard (QRIS) codes has exceeded its year-long target.

Vietnam will remain the region’s fastest growing digital economy between 2023-2025, according to the 8th edition of the e-Conomy SEA Report published on November 7 by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company.

The Apple Pay digital payment system, developed by Apple, has expanded its reach to Vietnam, making it the third nation in Southeast Asia to support the service, following Malaysia and Singapore.

Vietnam ranks second in Southeast Asia in the number of app downloads with 3.5 billion downloads last year, according to data analytics firm Data.ai.

Consumers in Thailand lead in the Asia-Pacific region in using digital payment methods, according to MasterCard’s survey results released on December 28.

The Ministry of Information and Communications reported that the number of Mobile Money subscribers has quadrupled since the service was launched in January this year, 67% of whom were from rural, mountainous, border, island and remote areas.

To encourage Vietnamese consumers and businesses to apply digital payment, Visa, a world leading e-payment technology company, has expanded activities in response to the annual Cashless Day in Vietnam (June 16).

In the context of the extensive digitalisation of services as well as multidimensional impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the behaviour and expectation of Vietnamese consumers have changed, turning digital payment into an evitable trend of the economy and their priority.

The Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) cooperated with the global digital payment company Visa to launch contactless payment services at the former’s petrol stations across the country on May 31.

Bank Indonesia (BI) and the Bank of Thailand (BOT) have launched pilot use of a cross-border QR payment linkage between Indonesia and Thailand.

Visa financial services corporation announced that it has joined hands with Moca e-wallet on the Grab application.

As the Prime Minister has officially allowed the pilot of mobile money – digital payment, many cellular operators will have an opportunity to enter this potential digital payment market.

Despite being a new player in Indonesia’s digital payment field, ShopeePay, the e-wallet arm of online marketplace Shopee, has become a market leader amid the e-commerce boom during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Venture capital funding pouring into Vietnamese fintech companies accounted for 36 percent of the total fintech investment in Southeast Asia.

Singapore’s parliament on January 14 passed a law on payment services, including regulations on digital payment to bolster the country’s cashless payments.

The financial technology (Fintech) industry is thriving in Vietnam with the market value expected to increase from 4.4 billion USD in 2017 to 7.8 billion USD by 2020, according to a report by Solidiance, a management consulting firm in the Asia-Pacific.

Customers must be at the centre of banks’ attention as they make a move towards digital transformation in an effort to adapt to a changing landscape of financial innovation and disruptive technologies.