The cross-border payment feature allows travellers from ten regions, including China’s mainland, Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Mongolia, Thailand, South Korea, and Italy, to use their native e-wallets and banking apps at over 875,000 NEPALPAY QR-compatible merchants in Nepal.
Alipay+ will activate several major partners, enabling these transactions via NEPALPAY QR for a unified cross-border experience. Main payment partners include Alipay, AlipayHK, Tinaba, MPay, Touch 'n Go eWallet, MyPB, Hipay, GCash, Changi Pay, OCBC Digital, Naver Pay, Toss Pay, and TrueMoney.
Officials from NCHL remarked that this initiative, implemented within six months of the signing of an MOU, represents significant progress for Nepal’s payment system. They also added that this marks NEPALPAY QR's first venture into cross-border payment capabilities and highlighted that the collaboration not only supports the tourism sector in Nepal but also facilitates convenient digital payments for travellers from multiple countries, positioning Nepal's QR scheme on an international stage.
Representatives from Ant International for Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, noted that Nepal’s tourism economy could benefit significantly from this system as global consumers increasingly seek unique, sustainable travel experiences. They expressed optimism about the future of QR-based payments in Nepal, foreseeing a growing market for tourism-driven transactions with NEPALPAY QR facilitating local and international partnerships.
This launch follows an MOU signed in May 2024, setting the groundwork for a seamless cross-border payment infrastructure between NCHL and Ant International. The collaboration came as the popularity of Nepal grew as a travel destination. According to the Nepal Tourism Board, a total of 416,069 tourists visited Nepal from January 2024 to April 2024, averaging over 100,000 arrivals per month.
Introduced by Ant International in 2020, Alipay+ now connects over 88 million merchants in 57 countries and regions to 1.5 billion consumer accounts across over 25 e-wallets and bank apps, allowing consumers to travel and pay hassle-free globally, and merchants to expand cross-border consumer engagement and digital marketing.
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