Southeast Asia’s national QR codes compared: KHQR, PromptPay, QRIS, DuitNow, SGQR and QR Ph

Each of the seven systems below is a national QR code backed by a central bank, so a shop can display a single code that any participating bank or wallet app can pay. Cambodia’s is KHQR. This page puts it next to its neighbours, using each country’s own central bank as the source.

The short version

“No link listed” means the country is not among the eight economies the NBC named as linked to Bakong at the end of 2025. Those eight are Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, South Korea, China, Japan and Singapore.

What they have in common

• One code, many apps. Each standard exists so that a merchant doesn’t need a separate QR code for every bank or wallet.
• The same global template. Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines all say their standard is built on, or aligned with, the QR specification of EMVCo, the international payments standards body. Bank Indonesia says this common base supports links between providers and between countries.
• Central bank in charge. In every case the central bank sets the rules or co-owns the scheme, even where a separate company runs the network day to day.

Country by country

Cambodia: KHQR

Launched by the National Bank of Cambodia on 4 July 2022 on the EMV QR standard. It runs on the NBC’s Bakong payment system. Full guide, including currencies and what is inside a code: What is KHQR?

Thailand: Thai QR Payment and PromptPay

Two names that are easy to mix up:

• PromptPay, launched in 2016, is the Bank of Thailand’s service for sending money using a citizen ID, a mobile number or a bank account number.
• Thai QR Payment is the QR standard used to pay by scanning a code in a mobile banking app.

The current QR rules are the Bank of Thailand’s policy guideline of 17 April 2019, which replaced a 2017 version. It says the Thai standard is developed from EMVCo’s QR specification, and it applies to payment providers the Bank of Thailand supervises.

Link with KHQR: Cambodian users can pay Thai QR codes in Thailand; the NBC announced this on 18 February 2020. For the reverse, the Bank of Thailand says Thai users “will also be able” to scan KHQR, without giving a start date.

Indonesia: QRIS

The Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard was launched by Bank Indonesia on 17 August 2019, Indonesia’s 74th Independence Day, and applied nationally from the start of 2020. Bank Indonesia built it with the Indonesia Payment System Association on EMVCo standards. A single QRIS payment is capped at Rp10 million, and providers may set daily or monthly limits of their own. Bank Indonesia lists Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore among its cross-border partners.

Malaysia: DuitNow QR

Bank Negara Malaysia describes DuitNow QR as a national QR payment solution, launched in 2019 and rolled out through 2020. It is run by PayNet, the shared payments company co-owned by the central bank and 11 local banks. Merchants sign up with one provider and display one code that customers of the other participating wallets can pay. Bank Negara Malaysia’s figures:

• 40 bank and non-bank participants.
• 360 million DuitNow QR transactions in 2023, worth RM14.6 billion, up from 125 million in 2022.
• 2.0 million registered DuitNow QR codes by 2023.

Link with KHQR: two-way. Cambodians could pay DuitNow QR codes in Malaysia from 19 September 2024. Malaysians could pay KHQR codes in Cambodia from 8 April 2025.

Singapore: SGQR

Singapore launched SGQR on 17 September 2018, calling it the world’s first unified payment QR code. It is one label that combines the QR codes of many payment schemes; 27 schemes adopted it at launch, including PayNow. The specification was endorsed by Singapore’s Payments Council in November 2017 and builds on EMVCo’s QR specifications. The scheme is co-owned by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Infocomm Media Development Authority.

Link with KHQR: two-way. Cambodians could pay at SGQR merchants in Singapore from 12 November 2025. Singapore users could pay KHQR codes in Cambodia from 30 March 2026.

Philippines: QR Ph

QR Ph launched in November 2019 for transfers between people. Payments to shops followed: a pilot on 30 April 2021 and a full launch on 12 October 2021. The industry launch was led by Philippine Payments Management, Inc. under the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, and QR Ph is aligned with EMVCo. Payments settle through InstaPay, the country’s 24/7 fast payment system. Under BSP Circular No. 1055, participating banks and e-money issuers must adopt QR Ph. People paying with QR Ph pay no fee; merchants may be charged a reasonable fee by their bank or e-money issuer.

Vietnam: NAPAS

The State Bank of Vietnam says Vietnam’s cross-border QR payments run through NAPAS, the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam, working under the central bank’s direction. In March 2025 it said NAPAS had already established QR connections with Thailand, Cambodia and Lao PDR, and had signed an agreement with Singapore’s NETS.

We have not yet found an English-language State Bank of Vietnam source for the national QR brand name, launch date or technical standard, so those cells stay “to confirm”. The direction of the Cambodia–Vietnam link is also unconfirmed; see our cross-border QR tracker.

What this means if you travel in the region

If your home QR system links with the country you are visiting, you may be able to pay local QR codes with your usual app. Each link is launched in phases and directions, so a link that lets visitors pay into a country may not yet let its own residents pay out. For Cambodia specifically, see How to pay in Cambodia as a tourist.

Not covered yet

This comparison covers seven countries. Laos, Myanmar, Brunei and Timor-Leste are not included yet; we will add each one once we have official sources for it.