JakartaGlobe-May 7
Indonesia’s largest banks have connected their mobile banking platforms to China’s dominant digital payment ecosystems — including Alipay, UnionPay, and Weixin Pay — as part of a new cross-border payment system launched on April 30. The integration allows Indonesians traveling to China to make payments directly in rupiah using QRIS, the national QR-code payment standard developed by Bank Indonesia, without the need to exchange cash or carry US dollars. Indonesia’s four largest banks — Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), Bank Mandiri, and Bank Central Asia (BCA) — have integrated cross-border QRIS services into their applications, enabling transactions with major Chinese payment platforms. The rollout follows a pilot phase launched in August 2025, which generated 1.64 million transactions worth Rp 556 billion ($32 million). The initiative is expected to benefit not only Indonesian tourists visiting China, but also students and professionals living there for longer periods. “I just found out that QRIS can already be used in China. It will make daily life much easier,” said Amantha Laura, a 20-year-old Indonesian student studying tourism in Chongqing, in a telephone interview on Thursday. During her first year in China, Laura relied on Alipay and WeChat Pay accounts funded through transfers from her parents in Tangerang. With QRIS integration, she can now use her Indonesian banking application directly for transactions. BRI was the first Indonesian bank to connect with Alipay back in 2020. At the time, the integration mainly supported Chinese tourists and business travelers visiting Indonesia rather than enabling two-way transactions. Under the new Indonesia-China QRIS arrangement, BRI customers traveling in China can now transact more easily using the same ecosystem. Through BNI’s Wondr application, users can make payments at merchants connected to Alipay and UnionPay in China simply by scanning QR codes, without exchanging cash. “We want to ensure customers can transact easily anywhere, including in China, while also supporting spending by foreign tourists in Indonesia,” said Sri Indira, senior executive vice president for network and sales at BNI. Read more at: https://jakartaglobe.id/business/indonesia-accelerates-dedollarization-as-local-currency-transactions-surge-63?utm_source=jakartaglobe&utm_medium=read_more&utm_campaign=indonesia-accelerates-dedollarization-as-local-currency-transactions-surge-163
