Standard Chartered Bank and Singapore-based Allinpay have made PayNow’s instant cross-border payments feature available to merchants and businesses in Hong Kong.

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Hong Kong merchants now have the ability to accept Singapore PayNow payments without infrastructure or transaction fees. Also, consumers can now avoid spending money on various costs associated with currency exchange rates or cross-border fees. This is the first QR payment solution in Hong Kong.

General Manager of Allinpay Merchants Services Tai Tiong Hean, commenting on the decision to launch the function in Hong Kong, noted that this measure is timely since after the lifting of restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic, travel has fully resumed.

The company’s representative also expressed confidence that the partnership with the bank will ensure uninterrupted work with digital payments in real-time through the integrated Allinpay platform and meet the needs of customers in improving cross-border transactions, saving money, and a mobile lifestyle.

The parties to the cooperation expect that access to the function of instant cross-border payments will contribute to the activation of travel between countries and bring income to Hong Kong enterprises.

Ankur Kanwar, head of monetary products at Standard Chartered in Singapore and ASEAN countries, said that the bank is creating the foundations for a completely new digital world of transactions. The financial institution currently has access to more than 20 instant payment infrastructures around the world. He noted that further expansion of access to instant cross-border transactions will allow fintech partners to provide their sellers with fast and hassle-free service.

Ankur Kanwar also believes that this decision has the potential to stimulate the development of the tourism sector.

As we have reported earlier, Hong Kong presents unique CBDC project.