PHNOM PENH, July 4 (Xinhua) -- The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) on Monday launched the KHQR code payment service, aiming at promoting the wider use of mobile retail payments in the Southeast Asian country, a senior official said.
KHQR is a universal quick response (QR) code system created for retail payments in the country, NBC said, adding that it only requires a single QR for receiving payment from any mobile app including the Bakong app.
Bakong is the kingdom's only all-in-one mobile payment and banking app.
Users can scan the KHQR codes generated by merchants via Bakong or other supported apps - and vice versa - for transactions in Cambodian riels and U.S. dollars, NBC said.
NBC's director-general Chea Serey said the KHQR would help businesses to accept digital payment from users of any participating bank through a single QR code and make transactions easier for customers.
She added that currently, 37 banking and financial institutions have participated in the KHQR code payment service, and 29 of them have successfully run it at some 230,000 shops across the country.
"QR code payment service is a new method of payment, but this service has grown rapidly and gained remarkable traction, especially among youth, because it's convenient, fast and safe," Serey said at the launching event.
The KHQR launched today will become a catalyst for promoting the wider and more effective use of the single QR code payment service in Cambodia, she added.
Serey said digital payment has been playing a larger role in supporting the post-pandemic economic recovery and in helping reduce the transmission of COVID-19 in the country.
Cambodia has seen a sharp rise in mobile payments in 2021 thanks to a rise in FinTechs and Internet usage, NBC said, adding that there was a total of 13.6 million mobile payment users last year, up 42 percent year-on-year.
The country recorded a total of 707 million online payment transactions worth 113 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, up 46.7 percent and 19 percent, respectively, from the year before, it added. ■
