City Bank, the largest credit card player in Bangladesh with a 35% market share, has launched an interoperable QR based payment solution with four payment schemes in one QR code: American Express, UnionPay, Mastercard and Visa.
By launching this service, City Bank becomes the first bank in Bangladesh to launch Interoperable QR.
The service has three key benefits. First, customers will not need to scan separate QR codes of different payment networks. Second, merchants will only need to display one QR code at the storefront, so there will be no cluttering of space. Third, City Bank QR code can be scanned by inbound customers visiting Bangladesh from other countries, making it a global interoperable solution.
Customers will be required to download & use Citytouch - City Bank’s mobile banking app and set any of their credit, debit or prepaid cards as the default payment option to scan & pay by QR codes displayed at merchants.
The bank hopes that interoperability with multiple schemes coupled with ‘no-contact’ payments during the ongoing pandemic will drive swift adoption by smartphone users.
“It is a great moment for all of us. Our QR payment solution is an example of interoperability which is also aligned with Bangladesh Bank’s vision. This will eliminate the huge investment that acquiring banks make in deployment of POS (Point of Sales) terminals,” said Mashrur Arefin, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer.
“We are delighted to launch The City Bank – American Express’ interoperable QR Payments solution in Bangladesh. Electronic payments have a long runway in Bangladesh and American Express is committed to bringing new, innovative payment capabilities to the market to support this growth,” said Divya Jain, Vice President, Global Network Services, South Asia, American Express.
Shailesh Paul, Head of Merchant Sales & Acquiring, India and South Asia, Visa said: “We are proud to enable QR payments for City Bank, a low-cost solution that will help digital payments become more widely available in Bangladesh. As consumers start making low-touch payments for their everyday purchases, we expect QR payments to see substantial adoption across merchant categories.”
Ashutosh Agrawal, General Manager, UnionPay International South Asia Branch, said: “The UnionPay QR code payment, which complies with the EMV Specifications and is compatible with the unified QR code standard in Bangladesh, is accepted at about 30 million merchants in 41 countries and regions. Leveraging our experience in developing QR code payment solutions, we are willing to support Bangladesh to build a cashless society together with our partners.”
“Mastercard is delighted to collaborate with The City Bank Ltd to offer the country’s Interoperable National QR code-based acceptance solution-BanglaQR. Mastercard pioneered & worked actively to offer the ‘BanglaQR’ solution in adoption of contactless payments in the country. This endeavor is now being extended with the City Bank’s focus on acquiring BanglaQR merchants at semi-urban & rural parts of the country,” said Syed Mohammad Kamal, Country Manager – Bangladesh.
