Indonesia Eyes QRIS Expansion to Australia, Saudi Arabia - Tempo.co English

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia is exploring QRIS cross-border payments potential with Saudi Arabia, India, Vietnam, and Australia, according to Bank Indonesia's executive director of the payment system policy department, Fitria Irmi Triswati.

"We are currently exploring partnership potential with our colleagues in India, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and Australia. This will expand regional payment connectivity. We will not only utilize QRIS but also BI Fast in Indonesia," Fitria said in Jakarta on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, as quoted by Antara.

QRIS, or Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard, has developed rapidly year after year since its adoption in 2019. This development was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which made QRIS a viable payment solution.

QRIS has reached 15 billion transactions out of a target of 17 billion transactions, with 45 million merchants out of a target of 47 million.

Meanwhile, QRIS users have exceeded the 70 million target, reaching 78 million users. QRIS Cross-Border has also been connected to six countries (out of a target of eight), including Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, and China.

Fitria emphasized that QRIS exapnsion will be tailored to local cultures, while accelerating the adoption of this transaction method at various merchants. For example, people in Japan and South Korea tend to prefer merchants to scan their QR codes.

Meanwhile, European countries prefer to tap QRIS directly to facilitate transactions without the need to scan a QR code.

"So, we will expand the countries, merchant quality, and also the features. Not only scanning, but also CPM (Customer Presented Mode), and QRIS-Tap," she added.