Representatives of Bank Indonesia and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) signed a memorandum of cooperation for the expansion of QR code-based payment services.
Heaptalk, Jakarta — The QR code Indonesian Standard (QRIS) initiated by Bank Indonesia will be accepted in Japan. This service expansion is the result of payment cooperation between Bank Indonesia and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI).
The collaboration is marked by the signing of a memorandum of cooperation by the Head of the Bank Indonesia Payment System Policy Department Filianingsih Hendarta and the Director General for Commerce and Service Industry Policy METI Japan Mogi Tadashi Tokyo (12/09). Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia Dody Budi Waluyo and Japan’s METI Parliamentary Vice-Minister Makoto Nagamine also witnessed the signing.
The expansion of QR code-based payment services aims to accelerate cooperation on the implementation and interoperability of cross-border or country payments using QR codes, namely the QR Code Indonesian Standard (QRIS) and the Japan Unified QR Code (JPQR).
This collaboration will build a framework that facilitates QR code-based payments between the two countries, including third parties as payment system operators. Thus, QRIS payments will be accepted in Japan immediately and vice versa, JPQR will be accepted in Indonesia.
The signing of the agreement marked the start of cooperation between Bank Indonesia and METI Japan to carry out various activities related to the interconnectivity of QR code-based payment systems. These activities include policy dialogue, technical cooperation, and the formation of working groups to ensure the achievement of goals, including efforts to implement QR code-based cross-border payments to support transactions between people in the two countries.
Driving digitalization of the payment system
Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia Dody Budi Waluyo delivered that the QR code-based payment cooperation between Bank Indonesia and METI is going to be a major concern for regulators and the industry considering that the cooperation agreement could strengthen economic relations between Indonesia and Japan.
“This QR code-based payment system cooperation is both a concrete manifestation of the implementation of the G20 Roadmap for Enhancing Cross-border Payments and a breakthrough in strengthening regional economic integration in line with Indonesia’s chairmanship in ASEAN and Japan’s co-chairmanship in ASEAN+3 in 2023,” said Dody in an official statement issued by Bank Indonesia (12/09).
In addition, payment connectivity also needs to be linked to a framework to encourage the use of local money to support international trade and investment activities to create efficient cross-border retail and wholesale transactions.
Bank Indonesia seeks to initiate, strengthen, and expand cooperation with various international strategic partners, both bilaterally and multilaterally, with various central banks and international partner authorities to create a cross-border payment system that is cheaper, faster, more inclusive, and transparent. In his closing statement, Dody expected that this collaboration could drive the digitalization of payment systems in both Indonesia and Japan.