Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) will become the first Singapore bank to enable customers to scan-and-pay all merchant QRs in mainland China through its Singapore mobile banking app.
This stems from an expanded partnership with UnionPay International, formalised on Nov 28 in Shanghai. According to a Dec 1 announcement, the partnership leverages NETS infrastructure to support payments to merchants that accept Weixin Pay (WeChat Pay), complementing the OCBC app’s existing ability to scan and pay Alipay+ and UnionPay merchant QR codes.
The capability will be ready in 1Q2026, according to OCBC. Payments will be debited directly from customers’ OCBC Singapore accounts, eliminating the need to download and fund third-party apps or queue for currency exchange.
OCBC’s Scan & Pay feature has seen payment volumes increase 11% y-o-y, while active users are up 67%, according to the bank. Mainland China is the leading destination for these QR payments, where OCBC Singapore customers use the feature to pay for dining, attractions and shopping purchases across duty-free items, furniture and jewellery.
Besides payments to merchants, the OCBC app is also able to support peer-to-to-peer transfers to eight digital wallets across Southeast Asia. Customers can also already send money directly to friends and family in mainland China using the pay-to-wallet feature for Weixin Pay and Alipay+.
Sunny Quek, OCBC’s head of global consumer financial services, says: “QR payments are the norm in mainland China and have been for some time now. For customers who travel there, our goal is to enable them to pay like a local.”
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Quek adds: “Beyond China, our Scan & Pay feature also connects to QR payment networks across 48 countries, giving OCBC app users the most comprehensive QR payment coverage.”
As at 3.25pm, shares in OCBC are trading 15 cents higher, or 0.81% up, at $18.65.
