Sarawak's e-wallet gets a name change, overseas payments now possible

KUCHING: Sarawak's e-wallet application is now known as SPay Global and may now be used internationally with its newest feature upgrade.

Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg said this would enable the e-wallet initially known as Sarawak Pay to be used for overseas payments which accept the UnionPay QR code.

"This is another milestone achieved in the pursuit of digitalising Sarawak.

"We have completed the integration work with UnionPay and I would like to thank UnionPay for collaborating with us," he said when launching the feature here on Thursday (March 4).

Abang Johari said the collaboration was the result of a memorandum of understanding signed with UnionPay in April 2019.

"I am happy to see that today we have successfully realised our aspirations to go global and that our Sarawak Pay e-wallet can be used for seamless, cashless transactions internationally," he said.

Abang Johari said it was now timely for the state-owned e-wallet to be renamed SPay Global to reinforce its branding and presence on the global stage.

In line with this, he said the state government would seek Bank Negara's approval for a bigger e-wallet size of up to 1,000 euros (RM4,888).

Sarawak Pay's current wallet limit is RM3,000.

Since its launch in November 2017, Sarawak Pay has recorded over 23 million transactions with the total amount surpassing RM1bil.

It has 496,000 users and close to 70,000 participating merchants in Sarawak.

"We expect to see further growth with this UnionPay partnership," Abang Johari said.

China UnionPay president Cai Jianbo, who joined the launch virtually from Shanghai, said UnionPay was pleased to collaborate with Sarawak on the cross-border payment capability.

"Sarawak Pay users can now conveniently pay by scanning the UnionPay QR code in Malaysia and at over 30 million merchants in 45 markets, including Australia, Britain, China,