Vietnam Boosts Cross-Border QR Payments to Expand Consumer Spending

Vietnam is accelerating the popularization of digital payments and the strengthening of international cooperation. While there are over 2.5 million payment acceptance points domestically, only about 154,000 units accept cross-border payments, highlighting the urgent need to bridge this gap. International cooperation in QR code payments, in particular, is drawing attention as a key to expanding consumer purchasing power and promoting the growth of the digital economy. Recently, Vietnam's payment company NAPAS, VietinBank (Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade), and Central Retail (a major Thai retailer) announced a partnership to promote cross-border payments. This is expected to enable Vietnamese consumers to use QR code payments more smoothly abroad, and tourists from overseas to do the same within Vietnam. Furthermore, the expansion of the VIETQRGlobal network and the rollout of cross-border QR code payment services between Vietnam and Singapore, and between Vietnam and South Korea, are progressing. The official launch of cross-border QR code payment services between Vietnam and China, in particular, has the potential to further invigorate economic exchanges between the two countries. These developments represent strategic efforts to respond to global payment trends and enhance the competitiveness of Vietnam's digital economy. However, alongside the development of payment infrastructure, measures to increase actual usage rates at physical stores are essential. According to reports from the Vietnamese Communist Party's newspaper "Nhan Dan," there is a shared understanding that not only improving connectivity between payment systems but also expanding the reach of payment acceptance points and increasing actual usage frequency will lead to increased consumer spending.