The announcement was made on July 2 by Nguyen Quang Minh, chief executive of the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS), during a ceremony marking the expansion of QR payment services between Vietnam and Singapore.
Cashless payment (Illustrative photo: Hoang Lam).
Under the new arrangement, travellers from Singapore will be able to use participating payment applications issued in Singapore to scan VietQRGlobal codes at merchants across Vietnam.
Transactions will be processed in real time, with automatic currency conversion between the Singapore dollar (SGD) and the Vietnamese dong (VND), enabling seamless cashless payments at shops, restaurants, hotels and other retail outlets nationwide.
During the initial rollout, the service is expected to reach around five million users through the partner network of Singapore-based Liquid Group. NAPAS said the user base is expected to grow further as Liquid Group expands its payment ecosystem, helping to accelerate cross-border QR payments between the two countries.
According to the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism, the country welcomed 10.6 million international visitors during the first five months of the year, up 14.9 per cent from a year earlier and the highest level recorded in many years.
Singapore remains one of Vietnam's fastest-growing tourism markets. A survey by Changi Airport Group found that three out of every five Singaporeans have visited Vietnam, while 95 per cent of respondents said they intended to return. Singaporean travellers are also among the region's higher-spending visitors and are frequent users of cashless payment methods.
NAPAS said it will continue working with banks, payment service providers and international partners to expand Vietnam's cross-border QR payment network, strengthening the country's payment infrastructure while supporting trade, tourism and digital economic integration.
The State Bank of Vietnam has already established bilateral QR payment links with Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, China, South Korea and Singapore, and is working to extend the system to additional countries.