Cambodia and Mastercard Roll Out ‘Bakong Tourists’ App for Seamless Payments

[reader]

From Fintech News

The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) has launched the Bakong Tourists app in collaboration with Mastercard at a ceremony in Phnom Penh.

The app simplifies digital payments for international tourists visiting Cambodia.

Tourists can download the app upon arrival and seamlessly top up their Bakong accounts using their Mastercard issued in their home countries.

This allows them to scan KHQR codes and pay at over 3.3 million merchants across Cambodia, a major advantage in a country where only 60,000 POS machines accept card payments.

The app is available for download on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

[Keithambrose]

10 hours ago, reader said:

From Fintech News

 

The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) has launched the Bakong Tourists app in collaboration with Mastercard at a ceremony in Phnom Penh.

The app simplifies digital payments for international tourists visiting Cambodia.

Tourists can download the app upon arrival and seamlessly top up their Bakong accounts using their Mastercard issued in their home countries.

This allows them to scan KHQR codes and pay at over 3.3 million merchants across Cambodia, a major advantage in a country where only 60,000 POS machines accept card payments.

The app is available for download on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

Sounds useful.

[10tazione]

No ratings yet in google play store, but eventually I might be able to try it out soon.

[vinapu]

If you top it up from Mastercard likely it will be treated as cash advance and interest will be carded from day 1. I can't see this being, to put it mildly, my preferred option. 

[roughjock]

On 11/14/2024 at 8:15 PM, vinapu said:

If you top it up from Mastercard likely it will be treated as cash advance and interest will be carded from day 1. I can't see this being, to put it mildly, my preferred option. 

It is not treated as a cash advance, it is posted as a transaction similar as if you purchased App Store credit on your iPhone or reloaded a gift card balance.

Reminder that if you have a Thai bank account, or one of many other Southeast Asian banks, you can use QR payments easily that way as well.

[vinapu]

18 hours ago, roughjock said:

It is not treated as a cash advance, it is posted as a transaction similar as if you purchased App Store credit on your iPhone or reloaded a gift card balance.

 

That is good news and thank you for clarifying this for us. 

Still my concern is not how I will pay but where money for that payment will come from. Tea is not getting sweeter just because is stirred.