Nabil Bank is looking to shake the payment industry in Nepal with the launch of ‘Union Pay International QR Code Acquiring service’. Merchants on the bank’s network will be able to process payments. Customers with UnionPay International cards will be able to use the QR code payment system for the first time in Nepal.
The introduction of this QR based service is expected to remove the need for physical Point of Sales (POS) terminals as the customer simply has to scan the QR code displayed on the checkout counter at merchant outlets with their smartphones to pay.
The QR code conveys the purchase transaction information to the application on the smartphone where the payment is then initiated. This is the early beginning of a cashless society in Nepal.
The customer will not have to hand over their cards as the details are stored in an app on their smartphone. Storing your card details in your smartphone is much safer than bringing your wallet and cards everywhere you go. The chances of theft and fraudulent purchases using your card details are reduced with QR codes.
This method of payment is extremely popular in China where mobile payment volume more than doubled to $5 trillion in 2016. It has become so ubiquitous that even basic transactions require mobile payment. Nabil Bank is looking to adopt this technology in Nepal to enable electronic transactions among businesses and customers in an efficient and secure manner.
According to the CEO of Nabil Bank Sashin Joshi, this new service is a milestone in Nepal for promoting digital banking to the next level. “In the first phase, we have targeted this service mainly to Chinese tourists to facilitate their payment requirements in Nepal. This will allow them to pay for goods and services in a very efficient and secure way as QR code payment is widely used in China. We are also planning to extend similar service to our bank’s customers in the near future,” added Joshi.
QR (Quick Response) code is a type of matrix barcode. It is a machine readable optical label that contains information about the item to which it is attached. A QR code consists of black squares arranged in a square grid on a white background, which can be read by an imaging device such as smartphone cameras.
Source: http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2018-02-12/nabil-bank-launches-qr-code-payment.html