SHANGHAI, April 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Under the guidance of The People's Bank of China (PBOC) and the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), UnionPay has further strengthened the China-Cambodia cross-border QR payment interoperability, achieving positive progress. In the first quarter of 2025, the QR payment value via the UnionPay App and UnionPay's domestic partner wallets in Cambodia surged by over 200% year-on-year, reaching a record high. As an important achievement of the Belt and Road Initiative, the QR payment linkage between China and Cambodia is playing an increasingly significant role in facilitating people-to-people exchanges and strengthening economic and trade relations between the two countries.
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In November 2023, the PBOC and NBC inked the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Area of Financial Innovation and Payment Systems , agreeing to collaborate on payment and settlement among other initiatives. The QR payment connectivity project was implemented by UnionPay and Cambodian partners within the cooperation framework established by the two central banks. In December 2023, UnionPay and the NBC jointly announced the enablement of payment acceptance on Cambodia's KHQR network for 200+ UnionPay partner wallets, including the UnionPay App and Chinese banking apps. Since its launch over a year ago, the service has expanded to more use cases and achieved sustained payment volume growth. The first quarter of 2025 saw the number of transactions grow by over 100% YOY, while the transaction value increased by over 200%.
In March 2025, UnionPay and the NBC further announced the enablement of Cambodia's Bakong wallets on UnionPay's global QR acceptance network and on WeChat Pay's QR merchant network in China. This achievement establishes the first fully operational two-way QR payment linkage with Southeast Asia. Since March, Bakong e-wallets have recorded steady volume growth across various spending use cases in China, including food and beverage, department stores, and tourism ticketing, becoming a preferred cross-border payment tool for Cambodian residents.
Since entering the Cambodian market in 2008, UnionPay has built a comprehensive payment service system in the country with extensive coverage and diverse product offerings. Nearly all merchant POS terminals and 80% of ATMs nationwide accept UnionPay cards. While continuously improving its acceptance network, UnionPay has enhanced its local business offerings in Cambodia, where mainstream local banks have issued hundreds of thousands of UnionPay cards in total. With the implementation of the QR payment corridor, Cambodian residents can use familiar payment products at home and abroad.
Currently, UnionPay has either established or is advancing cross-border QR payment partnerships with payment switches in 19 countries and regions. As a result, over 10 million QR merchants overseas have been enabled for UnionPay QR, creating a cross-border payment ecosystem that services daily consumer needs -- from dining and retail to transportation. Moving forward, UnionPay will continue to collaborate with local stakeholders to optimize payment experience, expand the merchant and user adoption for the two-way service, and deliver greater value to consumers.
Source: UnionPay
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