Singapore leads Asia real-time payment links at 28%

The Philippines followed at 26% whilst Thailand reached 23%.

Singapore has the highest coverage of national real-time payment links amongst the Asian markets surveyed, as regional efforts increasingly focus on connecting domestic payment systems across borders.

Singapore recorded coverage of 28%, followed by the Philippines at 26% and Thailand at 23%. India stood at 21%, Malaysia at 20% and Vietnam at 17%, according to FXC Intelligence’s “The New Era Of Asia’s Cross-Border Payments” report.

Hong Kong recorded 15%, Indonesia 14%, China 11% and Japan 9%. Overall coverage across the markets surveyed was 19%.

The report said current efforts are focused largely on expanding bilateral payment corridors, including links between Singapore and India, as well as Thailand and Malaysia. 

Markets are also increasing direct connections between domestic payment systems used by banks and non-banks.

Project Nexus is expected to take this further by linking India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand through a multilateral payment network. 

Its initial operational phase is expected to launch later this year.

Separately, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia have agreed to a 50-year roadmap under the George Town Accord aimed at standardising cross-border payment frameworks.

Coverage of QR codes and wallet interoperability is also expected to increase. Across the markets surveyed, 41% of coverage was classified as present, whilst 48% was considered future-focused. Only 11% was classified as past coverage.

China had the highest positive assessment of QR code coverage at 80%, followed by Singapore at 74% and India at 73%.

Hong Kong and Vietnam each recorded 67%, whilst Malaysia and Thailand stood at 65%. The Philippines recorded 60%, followed by Indonesia at 58% and Japan at 50%.

Overall, 69% of respondents viewed QR code coverage positively.