# ASEAN RPC

> Source: https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/asean-rpc
> research date 2026-06-03 · extracted at 2026-10-06
> Publisher: Barcoder — encyclopedia of QR, barcode and payment-code standards

Specifications:
- [Central Banks of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand seal cooperation in RPC — MAS, Nov 2022](https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/media-releases/2022/central-banks-of-indonesia-malaysia-philippines-singapore-and-thailand-seal-cooperation-in-regional-payment-connectivity)
- [Five central banks seal cooperation in regional payment connectivity — Bank Negara Malaysia, Nov 2022](https://www.bnm.gov.my/-/5centralbanks-regional-payment-connectivity)
- [Cambodia's central bank joins the RPC initiative — GovInsider, 2025](https://govinsider.asia/intl-en/article/cambodias-central-bank-joins-the-regional-payment-connectivity-initiative)

## Overview

**ASEAN Regional Payment Connectivity (RPC)** is an umbrella initiative among Southeast Asian central banks to make cross-border retail payments faster, cheaper, more transparent and more inclusive — chiefly by linking national **QR-code** payment schemes and **fast-payment systems** so that travellers and merchants can transact across borders in local currencies <sup>[1][1]</sup><sup>[5][5]</sup>. RPC is not itself a QR symbology or a single settlement engine; it is the coordination framework under which countries' own QR standards (such as Indonesia's QRIS, Thailand's PromptPay, Malaysia's DuitNow and Singapore's PayNow) are interlinked, mostly through **bilateral** linkages, into a region-wide acceptance network <sup>[1][1]</sup><sup>[5][5]</sup>.

## History

- **14 November 2022** — A **Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Regional Payment Connectivity** was signed in **Bali, Indonesia**, on the sidelines of the **G20 Leaders' Summit**, by the five founding central banks: **Bank Indonesia (BI), Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Bank of Thailand (BOT)** <sup>[1][1]</sup><sup>[2][2]</sup>.
- **August 2023** — **Vietnam** (State Bank of Vietnam) joined as the sixth member <sup>[5][5]</sup>.
- **February 2024** — **Brunei Darussalam** joined <sup>[5][5]</sup>.
- **April 2024** — **Lao PDR** joined <sup>[5][5]</sup>.
- **8–10 April 2025** — The **National Bank of Cambodia (NBC)** announced participation at the 12th ASEAN Finance Ministers' and Central Bank Governors' Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, becoming the **ninth** member <sup>[3][3]</sup>.

The MoU's signing coincided with the start of Indonesia's 2023 ASEAN chairmanship, and the initiative is aligned with ASEAN's commitment to achieve regional payments interoperability and connectivity by **2025** and with the **G20 Roadmap** for cross-border payments <sup>[1][1]</sup><sup>[2][2]</sup>.

## Technical specification

RPC works at the **interlinking** layer rather than as a single shared platform. Its two main modalities are <sup>[1][1]</sup><sup>[3][3]</sup><sup>[5][5]</sup>:

- **QR-code linkages** — connecting national QR standards so a payer can scan a foreign merchant's QR with a home-country app. The connected national QR schemes include **Cambodia's KHQR, Indonesia's QRIS, Lao PDR's Lao QR, Malaysia's DuitNow QR, the Philippines' QR Ph, Singapore's PayNow, Thailand's PromptPay and Vietnam's VietQR** <sup>[5][5]</sup>.
- **Fast-payment linkages** — connecting real-time account-to-account systems (for example PromptPay–PayNow) so cross-border transfers settle in near-real time rather than the two to three days typical of older correspondent routing <sup>[1][1]</sup>.

Payments are settled in **local currencies**, which removes intermediary steps and reduces both cost and transaction time <sup>[1][1]</sup><sup>[5][5]</sup>. The architecture is predominantly **bilateral**: each country pair establishes its own QR/fast-payment link under the common RPC framework, in contrast to a single multilateral hub <sup>[1][1]</sup><sup>[3][3]</sup>.

## Use cases

- **Tourism and travel retail** — cross-border QR merchant payments for travellers within ASEAN, the most visible consumer use case <sup>[1][1]</sup><sup>[5][5]</sup>.
- **Remittances and P2P** — fast-payment account-to-account transfers between members <sup>[1][1]</sup>.
- **Merchant acceptance** — enabling small merchants across member countries to accept inbound foreign-app payments via their existing national QR code <sup>[5][5]</sup>.

## Implementations

Membership and connectivity (as of 2025):

- **Nine ASEAN central banks**: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand (founders, Nov 2022), Vietnam (Aug 2023), Brunei Darussalam (Feb 2024), Lao PDR (Apr 2024) and Cambodia (Apr 2025) <sup>[1][1]</sup><sup>[3][3]</sup><sup>[5][5]</sup>.
- **Eight national QR schemes** referenced as connected or being connected: KHQR, QRIS, Lao QR, DuitNow, QR Ph, PayNow, PromptPay and VietQR <sup>[5][5]</sup>.
- Reported extensions beyond ASEAN include Japan exploring integration of its QR payments, and a China–Indonesia cross-border QR pilot enabling Indonesian merchants to accept Alipay and UnionPay <sup>[5][5]</sup>.

## Comparison

RPC is the **QR-acceptance / bilateral-linkage umbrella** for Southeast Asia, and it contrasts directly with **Nexus**: Nexus replaces the many bilateral links RPC relies on with a **single multilateral connection** per instant-payment system, scaling better as the network grows <sup>[1][1]</sup>. The two are convergent in goal — three RPC members (Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand) plus India are the core of Nexus, and Indonesia is a Nexus observer — so RPC's bilateral links are expected to be complemented or absorbed by the multilateral Nexus hub over time <sup>[1][1]</sup>. RPC also differs from **PAPSS** and **Buna**, which are regional multi-currency *settlement* engines (Africa and the Arab region respectively); RPC instead coordinates the consumer-facing QR and fast-payment layer while relying on existing national settlement arrangements <sup>[1][1]</sup><sup>[5][5]</sup>.

## Fun facts

- The founding RPC MoU was signed at the **G20 Bali summit** under Indonesia's presidency, tying a regional ASEAN payment effort directly to the global G20 cross-border-payments agenda <sup>[1][1]</sup><sup>[2][2]</sup>.

## Status

RPC is **live and expanding**. The founding MoU was signed on 14 November 2022; membership grew to **nine central banks** by April 2025 with Cambodia's accession, and multiple bilateral QR and fast-payment corridors among members are already operational, with further linkages and external partners (Japan, China) under exploration <sup>[1][1]</sup><sup>[3][3]</sup><sup>[5][5]</sup>.

## Sources

[1] [Central Banks of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand seal cooperation in Regional Payment Connectivity](https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/media-releases/2022/central-banks-of-indonesia-malaysia-philippines-singapore-and-thailand-seal-cooperation-in-regional-payment-connectivity) — Monetary Authority of Singapore, November 2022
[2] [Five central banks seal cooperation in regional payment connectivity](https://www.bnm.gov.my/-/5centralbanks-regional-payment-connectivity) — Bank Negara Malaysia, November 2022
[3] [Cambodia's central bank joins the Regional Payment Connectivity initiative](https://govinsider.asia/intl-en/article/cambodias-central-bank-joins-the-regional-payment-connectivity-initiative) — GovInsider, 2025
[4] [The National Bank of Cambodia Formally Joins the Regional Payment Connectivity Initiative](https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/media-releases/2025/national-bank-of-cambodia-formally-joins-the-regional-payment-connectivity-initiative) — Monetary Authority of Singapore, April 2025
[5] [The Rise of Cross-Border QR Payment Systems in Southeast Asia](https://www.ainvest.com/news/rise-cross-border-cbdc-qr-payment-systems-southeast-asia-strategic-investment-opportunities-regional-financial-infrastructure-tourism-driven-economic-integration-2512/) — AInvest, 2025

[1]: https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/media-releases/2022/central-banks-of-indonesia-malaysia-philippines-singapore-and-thailand-seal-cooperation-in-regional-payment-connectivity
[2]: https://www.bnm.gov.my/-/5centralbanks-regional-payment-connectivity
[3]: https://govinsider.asia/intl-en/article/cambodias-central-bank-joins-the-regional-payment-connectivity-initiative
[4]: https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/media-releases/2025/national-bank-of-cambodia-formally-joins-the-regional-payment-connectivity-initiative
[5]: https://www.ainvest.com/news/rise-cross-border-cbdc-qr-payment-systems-southeast-asia-strategic-investment-opportunities-regional-financial-infrastructure-tourism-driven-economic-integration-2512/

## Deployments

Found in the following country reports (grep across `reports/countries/`):

- **LA** — [LA-laos.md](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/LA)

## Regions / aggregations not mapped to a single country

- ASEAN