Cross-border Payment

Thailand’s Cross-border Payment Linkages

PromptPay has been a game changer for Thailand’s digital payments, given its convenience, speed, security, and low cost. Since its launch in 2016, the registration rate and number of transactions have been continuously increasing. Its popularity increased dramatically during the pandemic, as people minimized exposure to cash and switched to online transactions.

Following the domestic success, the Bank of Thailand (BOT) has expanded the PromptPay’s coverage to other ASEAN countries as part of the ASEAN Payment Connectivity initiative. Linkages are also forged beyond ASEAN—to countries with strong economic ties with Thailand, especially with large flows of migrant workers and tourists. Use cases for cross-border payments include: (1) cross-border QR payments and (2) cross-border fund transfers, with real-time execution at relatively lower fees.

In the future, the BOT expects to add more strategic partner countries as well as to increase the number of service providers to better serve people’s needs.

Details of Cross-border QR Payments

Examples: 1. Thai tourists traveling to Vietnam may use their BBL mobile application to scan VietQR of TPBank or BIDV at merchants in Vietnam to make payments for their goods or services.

2. Malaysian tourists traveling to Thailand may use their Public Bank mobile application to scan the Thai QR payment of KBANK or SCB at merchants in Thailand to make payments for their goods or services.

Details of Cross-border Remittance Services by Mobile Phone Number

Examples: 1. Singaporean workers in Thailand may transfer money to recipients in Singapore having a DBS, OCBC, or UOB bank account through BBL, KBANK, KTB, or SCB mobile application by using the mobile phone number of the recipient.

2. Thai workers in Singapore may transfer money to recipients in Thailand having a BBL, KBANK, KTB, or SCB bank account through DBS, OCBC, or UOB mobile application by using the mobile phone number of the recipient.

Overview of Thailand’s Cross-border Payment Linkages