(L-R) Mr. Srijan Krishna Malla, Board Member of NCHL & Chief Information Technology at Siddhartha Bank; Mr. Bikash Saran, Chief Product Development Officer, NCHL; Mr. Edward Yue, General Manager, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Ant International; Mr. Sittipong Kittiprapapong, General Manager, Global Merchant Partnership, SEA, Ant International
- Through the partnership, more than 800,000 merchants across Nepal will be able to accept cross-border payments from more than 10 international payment apps, amidst steady growth in tourism
- Alipay+ acceptance for international tourists will include micro and small local merchants accepting NEPALPAY QR
SINGAPORE – Nepal Clearing House Limited (NCHL), a public limited company under the leadership and guidance of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB, The Central Bank of Nepal), and Ant International, a digital payment and financial technology leader dedicated to building an inclusive and sustainable global commerce ecosystem, have agreed to enable travellers to Nepal to enjoy a seamless digital payment experience at more than 800,000 merchants across the country.
According to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the two sides, in the coming months, users of more than 10 leading mobile wallets and banking apps, which are payment partners of Alipay+, the cross-border mobile payment and digitalization technology solutions operated by Ant International, will be able to use cashless payments when they travel to Nepal, simply by scanning NEPALPAY QR or other interoperable QRs.
NEPALPAY QR has been implemented by NCHL as per the NepalQR standards published by Nepal Rastra Bank and as part of the National Payment Switch. NEPALPAY QR works as an independent QR scheme and allows QR interoperability at merchant level and network level.
Neelesh Man Singh Pradhan, Chief Executive Officer, NCHL, said: “Nepal’s tourism sector has started to pick up in the recent months as a preferred travel destination for various tourists, and hence a need of seamless digital payments. Digitizing payments in Nepal and connecting its retail payment systems globally has been one of the key focus for NCHL. This partnership between NCHL and Alipay+ for enabling merchant payments is expected to be a major milestone to ease the cross-border transactions.”
The collaboration comes as the popularity of Nepal grows as a travel destination. According to the Nepal Tourism Board, a total of 416,069 tourists visited Nepal from January to April 2024, averaging over 100,000 arrivals per month. With tourists from countries and regions of Alipay+ payment partners amongst the top in visitor arrivals to Nepal, they will be able to pay even more widely, at merchants accepting NEPALPAY QR or equivalent interoperable QR, which includes micro and small businesses, encouraging even more localized experiences.
Edward Yue, General Manager of Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Ant International, said: “Through the support of the Nepal Rastra Bank and Nepal Clearing House Ltd., Alipay+ is enhancing cross-border payments in Nepal, digitalizing the travel and payments experience, not just for consumers, but also for local businesses. With travel to Nepal growing steadily and a country known for such diverse culture, being able to easily make mobile payments at even the smallest merchants who accept NEPALPAY QR, will open up new local and unique experiences for tourists, while ensuring more local businesses can benefit from tourism, a key driver of Nepal’s economy. This is a key component of our partnership with national QRs – to promote inclusion and growth at scale, while enabling a more connected global travel experience.”
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.
The service also builds on Alipay+’s extensive regional partnerships, including collaborations with national QR schemes including Singapore’s SGQR, Malaysia’s PayNet, South Korea’s ZeroPay, Sri Lanka's LankaPay and Cambodia's KHQR.
About Nepal Clearing House
Nepal Clearing House Ltd. (NCHL) is a public limited company promoted by Nepal Rastra Bank and Banks & Financial Institutions of Nepal and has the objective to implement and operate multiple national payment systems. NCHL recognizes banking & financial technology-oriented services as one of the key ingredients for the BFIs to improve their efficiency, productivity and also provide innovative financial solutions to their customers without having to invest heavily into infrastructures by the BFIs. It has been operating electronic cheque clearing (ECC), interbank payment system (IPS), retail payment switch (RPS), connectRTGS, National Payments Interface (NPI as open API platform), connectIPS (aggregated retail channel & gateway) and CORPORATEPAY (business payment channel).
About NEPALPAY QR
NEPALPAY QR is the implementing infrastructure of NepalQR standard as part of the National Payment Switch (NPS) that operates as independent QR scheme and also facilitates interoperability of QR at issuing, merchant and network level. The network has access to more than 8 lakh merchants through NEPALPAY QR and it interoperable QR scheme with scan & pay available from over 39 mobile banking apps, 13 wallet apps and connectIPS.
About Ant International
Headquartered in Singapore, Ant International powers the future of global commerce with digital innovation for everyone and every business to thrive. In close collaboration with partners, we support merchants of all sizes worldwide to realize their growth aspirations through a comprehensive range of tech-driven digital payment and financial services solutions.
About Alipay+
Alipay+ is a suite of cross-border mobile payment and digitalization technology solutions that help connect global merchants to consumers. Consumers enjoy seamless payment and a broad choice of deals using their preferred payment methods while travelling abroad. Small and medium-sized businesses may use Alipay+ digital tools to enhance efficiency and achieve omni-channel growth.
