QR code payment is a contactless payment method where payment is performed by scanning a

QR code A QR code (an initialism for quick response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional barcode) invented in 1994 by the Japanese company Denso Wave. A barcode is a machine-readable optical label that can contain information about th ...

from a

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...

. This is an alternative to doing electronic funds transfer at point of sale using a

payment terminal A payment terminal, also known as a point of sale (POS) terminal, credit card terminal, EFTPOS terminal (or by the older term as PDQ terminal which stands for "Process Data Quickly"), is a device which interfaces with payment cards to make electro ...

. This avoids a lot of the infrastructure traditionally associated with electronic payments such as payment cards,

payment network A payment system is any system used to settle financial transactions through the transfer of monetary value. This includes the institutions, instruments, people, rules, procedures, standards, and technologies that make its exchange possible.Biago ...

s, payment terminal and

merchant account A merchant account is a type of bank account that allows businesses to accept payments in multiple ways, typically debit or credit cards. A merchant account is established under an agreement between an acceptor and a merchant acquiring bank for t ...

s. To make a QR code payment, the consumer scans the QR code displayed by the merchant with their smartphone to pay for their goods. They enter the amount they have to pay and finally submit. This is a more secure

card-not-present A card-not-present transaction (CNP, mail order / telephone order, MO/TO) is a payment card transaction made where the cardholder does not or cannot physically present the card for a merchant's visual examination at the time that an order is given ...

method than others.

History

The QR code system was invented in 1994 by

Masahiro Hara Masahiro Hara (born 1957) is a Japanese engineer and Hosei University graduate who is best known for inventing the QR code in 1994. Early life and education Hara was born in Tokyo in 1957. He studied in the department of electric and electroni ...

from the Japanese company Denso Wave. The first mobile wallet app for

cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. It i ...

Bitcoin Bitcoin ( abbreviation: BTC; sign: ₿) is a decentralized digital currency that can be transferred on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network. Bitcoin transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distr ...

featured the ability to send and receive payments with QR codes in March 2011. In 2011, Chinese company Alipay designed a QR code payment method which allowed partnering offline stores to accept payment by scanning an individual’s QR code in Alipay Wallet. In 2014, Chinese technology company

Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. () is a Chinese multinational technology and entertainment conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is also the w ...

introduced a similar feature on its messaging app

WeChat WeChat () is a Chinese instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent. First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile app in 2018, with over 1 billion monthly active users. WeChat has bee ...

to allow its users to make QR code payments. QR code payment has helped mobile payment become the most popular method of payments in China, accounting for 83% of all payments as of 2018. Nearly all shops, street vendors, most

metro systems This list of metro systems includes electrified rapid transit train systems worldwide. In some parts of the world, metro systems are referred to as subways, U-Bahn or undergrounds. , 205 cities in 61 countries have a metro system. The London ...

buses A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

, and taxis in

Mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

accept either WeChat Pay, Alipay, or Cloud QuickPass for payment. In 2017, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) launched

BharatQR BharatQR, developed by NPCI, Mastercard, and Visa, is an integrated payment system in India for mobile devices. The system, which was launched in September 2016, facilitates users to transfer their money from one source to another. The money ...

as a single, interoperable QR code that could be used for making payments to and from bank accounts using UPI and wallets. It works alongside QR codes from wallet providers as well as card providers such as Visa's mVisa and Mastercard's Masterpass. In 2020, PayPal announced the ability to pay with QR codes in its mobile app.

Usage by industry

Transportation

China

Passengers exit or enter Wuhan Metro system by QR code (1)

Most

, and taxis in

accept either WeChat Pay or Alipay for payment. The national railway operator,

China Railway China State Railway Group Company, Ltd., doing business as China Railway (CR), is the national passenger and freight railroad corporation of the People's Republic of China. China Railway operates passenger and freight transport throughout Ch ...

, also accepts the two major apps for payment.

India

Line 1 Line 1 or 1 line may refer to: Public transport Africa * Line 1 (Algiers Metro), Algeria * Cairo Metro Line 1, Egypt Asia China * Line 1 (Beijing Subway) * Line 1 (Changchun Rail Transit) * Line 1 (Changsha Metro) * Line 1 (Changzhou Metro) * L ...

of the

Mumbai Metro The Mumbai Metro is a rapid transit (MRT) system serving the city of Mumbai and the wider Mumbai Metropolitan Region in Maharashtra, India.Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority is responsible authority for maintaining the metro system ...

in India allows users to purchase a ticket on their phones using QR code payments. Instead of swiping an RFID card or single-use token, a QR code is generated on the Paytm app which is then read by a scanner mounted on the turnstile.

Integrated QR code payment systems

ASEAN Integrated QR Code Payment System

This integrated QR code payment system allows people to make transactions with banks or e-money that supports their local integrated QR code payment system in any of the participating countries. Local currencies are used in these transactions, meaning that transactions in Thailand using an Indonesian payment app will directly exchange rupiah with

baht The baht (; th, บาท, ; currency sign, sign: ฿; ISO 4217, code: THB) is the official currency of Thailand. It is divided into 100 ''satang'' (, ). The issuance of currency is the responsibility of the Bank of Thailand. Society for Worldw ...

. Currently, three of the QR code payment systems in

ASEAN ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...

are connected (

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

). Singapore and the Philippines are also planning to integrate their QR payment systems. The following are QR Payment systems that are in or soon will be in the integrated pament system.

QRIS (Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard)

QRIS is a standardized national QR payment system for Indonesia launched by Bank Indonesia on August 17, 2019. Almost all payment services in Indonesia support this system, including GoPay,

OVO ''OVO'' (also released as ''OVO: The Millennium Show'') is a soundtrack album by English singer-songwriter and musician Peter Gabriel and his eleventh album overall. It was released on 12 June 2000 by Real World Records as the soundtrack to ...

, ShopeePay, BCA, and BRI. It combines all the separate QR codes from different payment services into one QR code which can be used by merchants to receive payments from any e-wallets or banks that supports QRIS.

DuitNow

DuitNow allows all participating banks and e-wallets in Malaysia to use the same QR Code for transactions. It is launched by Paynet under the Bank Negara Malaysia's Interoperable Credit Transfer Framework (ICTF). Some of the banks and e-wallets that support this payment system are CIMB,

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tri ...

, GrabPay, ShopeePay, OCBC, UOB, ICBC, and more.

Thai QR Payment

Thai QR Payment (Promptpay) integrates QR payment systems in Thailand. It was launched by the

Bank of Thailand The Bank of Thailand (BOT) ( Abrv: ธปท.; th, ธนาคารแห่งประเทศไทย, ) is the central bank of Thailand. History The Bank of Thailand (BOT) was first set up as the Thai National Banking Bureau. The Bank ...

SGQR (Singapore Quick Response Code)

SGQR is a unified QR code payment system launched on September 17, 2018. SGQR combines multiple QR codes used by multiple payment services in Singapore, including

PayNow PayNow is a near-instant real-time payment system developed by Association of Banks in Singapore. The interface facilitates inter-bank peer-to-peer and person-to-merchant transactions. The system is supported by all major Singaporean banks an ...

, into one QR code. This scheme is co-owned by

MAS Mas, Más or MAS may refer to: Film and TV * Más y Menos, fictional superhero characters, from the Teen Titans animated television series * Más (Breaking Bad), "Más" (''Breaking Bad''), a season three episode of ''Breaking Bad'' Songs * Más ( ...

and IMDA.

QR Ph

QR Ph is the QR code standard in the Philippines, approved by the Philippines Payment Management, inc. (PPMI) in accordance with circular 1055 of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. The system is based on the Europay-Mastercard-VISA (EMV) standard, allowing one QR Code to serve transactions from different banks and e-wallets.

References

Payment systems Mobile payments Japanese inventions 1994 introductions 2011 introductions {{Finance-stub