KUALA LUMPUR – Tech billionaire Bill Gates may have made his fortune building the future, but it was a slice of Southeast Asian street life — powered by a proudly Malaysian bank — that gave him a glimpse into how far digital payments have come.
During a visit to Singapore’s Newton Food Centre last month, Gates was introduced to Malaysia’s Maybank MAE app and its seamless cross-border QR payment capabilities — all over dinner at a humble hawker stall.
The Microsoft co-founder was in the city-state for a private dinner hosted by Singaporean media outlet Mothership, where its digital news host Andrew Koay demonstrated how online payments are made using Maybank’s MAE app.
Gates learned that with the app, transactions could be performed just as easily in Singapore and Indonesia as back home in Malaysia.
Koay explained that Singapore has established cross-border QR payment links with Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.
This means visitors from these countries can simply look out for the local e-payment provider logo — such as Singapore’s NETS — and pay using participating banking apps from their own country.
“It’s the same when Singaporeans travel to Malaysia, Thailand or Indonesia — they can scan QR codes there and pay through their local apps too,” Koay said.
Gates, who admitted he once had to borrow cash from friends to pay for valets because they didn’t accept digital payments, was visibly impressed.
“That is cool — that you could be almost like a merchant so easily for acceptance,” he remarked.
Maybank is one of several regional banks offering Cross-border DuitNow QR services, which allow MAE app users to make payments abroad simply by scanning a local QR code.
The feature is currently available in Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia, with payments accepted through NETS (Singapore), PromptPay (Thailand), QRIS (Indonesia), and Bakong (Cambodia).
Daily transaction limits are capped at RM1,000, or the foreign currency equivalent, or up to a user’s personalised transaction limit. — June 4, 2025