Hana Bank signed an agreement with Vietnam’s largest state-owned lender to expand cross-border QR payment services, building on a relationship that began with the Korean bank’s controversial 2019 investment in the Vietnamese institution.
The memorandum with Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam comes as NAPAS plans to expand cross-border QR code payment connections with China, Japan, South Korea, and other nations by 2025, positioning the partnership within a broader regional digitalization trend.
Hana Financial Group reported record net profit of 3.74 trillion won ($2.56 billion) in 2024, though the parent company has faced scrutiny over overseas expansion costs. The bank acquired a 15% stake in BIDV for approximately $880 million six years ago, making it one of the largest foreign shareholders in Vietnam’s banking sector.
The latest agreement, announced during a Seoul business forum attended by Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary To Lam, extends an existing arrangement that already allows Hana customers to withdraw cash from 2,100 BIDV ATMs using QR codes.
Cross-border QR payments have become more seamless across Southeast Asia, with Cambodia’s KHQR, Indonesia’s QRIS, Lao PDR’s Lao QR, Malaysia’s DuitNow, the Philippines’s QR Ph, Singapore’s PayNow, Thailand’s PromptPay, and Vietnam’s VietQR already connected.
The initiative targets small merchants and tourists, though questions remain about adoption rates and revenue generation from such services. Hana operates through subsidiary GLN International for its Vietnamese digital finance projects, seeking to differentiate itself in an increasingly crowded cross-border payments market.
