Thailand’s PromptPay and Singapore’s PayNow join hands for World’s First Linkage of Real-time Payment Systems

 

Thailand’s PromptPay and Singapore’s PayNow join hands for World’s First Linkage of Real-time Payment Systems

Singapore’s PayNow system that lets individuals transfer money using just a mobile number is now linked to Thailand's PromptPay version.

The linkage between the two countries' national fast payment systems is the first of its kind in the world.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore and Bank of Thailand have linked their country’s retail real-time payment systems, saying this would sharply cut transaction times.

No other central banks around the world have connected their retail instant payment networks.

Both systems have been designed by Vocalink, now a subsidiary of MasterCard.

In a joint statement on today April 29, 2021, the central banks said Thailand’s PromptPay system had been connected to Singapore’s PayNow network.

The cooperation between MAS and BOT goes back to 2006, when the MOU was signed by Mr Heng Swee Keat, Managing Director, MAS, and M.R. Pridiyathorn Devakula, Governor, BOT, in Singapore in May 2006.

 

Customers of participating banks in Singapore and Thailand will be able to transfer funds of up to S$1,000 or THB25,000 (S$1,060) daily across the two countries, using just a mobile number.

There will be no need to populate information fields such as the recipient’s full name and bank account details, as with normal remittance solutions.

The funds will flow seamlessly and securely between customers’ accounts in Singapore and Thailand and vice-versa.

The experience will be similar to how domestic PayNow and PromptPay transfers are made today, in which senders can use their mobile banking or payment applications to initiate fund transfers instantly and securely, at any time of the day.

As there is no change in the experience pattern for the participating bank account holders, it is expected volumes will be reasonably good from Day 1.

The transfers will be completed within a matter of minutes, representing a marked improvement over the average of 1-2 working days needed by most cross-border remittance solutions.

The funds transfer channel is open 24*7, 7 Days a week, 365 days a year. This means there will be no holidays for this cross-border payment channel.

Singapore is 1 hour ahead of Thailand. Eg: 2:10 pm Saturday, in Singapore is 1:10 pm Saturday, in Thailand. This means the time gap between Singapore and Thailand is very less, which is a plus point for this payment channel.

 

The senders will be able to see the conversion rate and the applicable fees before conformation of the payment.

The fees will be affordably priced at less than 3 per cent to 5 per cent of the value of transfer, compared with the global average of 11 per cent, and will be transparently displayed to senders.

Participating banks have confirmed that the conversion rates and fees will be transparent and reasonable.

As of now, no charges are envisaged for the fund’s recipients.

In the first phase, only P2P (Person to Person) payments are enabled. In the long run, P2M (Person to Merchant) and M2P (Merchant to Person) payments may be enabled.

The payment channel will progressively scale up the PromptPay-PayNow linkage to include more participants and extend the transfer limits to facilitate business transactions.

The new initiative was announced via a joint statement, by BoT and MAS.

 

Meanwhile, BoT governor Dr Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput said the service by MAS and BoT would effectively address customers' long-standing pain points in the area of cross-border transfers and remittances including long transaction times and high costs.

 

“Today’s PromptPay-PayNow linkage represents another key milestone in our digital payments journey.

 

“With the success of PromptPay, our domestic payment system, we have sought to enhance cross-border linkages with ASEAN and other countries and have launched our QR cross-border payment connectivity with Japan, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam,” he said.

 

MAS managing director Ravi Menon, meanwhile, said MAS’ shared objective with BoT is to work with their ASEAN counterparts to expand this bilateral linkage into a network of linked retail payment systems across ASEAN.

 

“With the rise of the digital economy, we want to empower individuals and businesses in the region with simple, swift and secure cross-border payments through just a few clicks on their mobile phones,” he said.

 

The first steps towards PromptPay-PayNow linkage started off in 2019 under the ASEAN Payment Connectivity plan.

The linkage ‘Go Live’, involved an extensive collaboration between the BoT and MAS, both countries’ payment system operators, bankers’ associations, and participating banks.

Participating pilot banks in Thailand: - Bangkok Bank, Kasikornbank, Krung Thai Bank, and Siam Commercial Bank.

Participating pilot banks in Singapore:- DBS Bank, OCBC, and United Overseas Bank.

 

Thailand’s PromptPay: - Tagline - Offering quick, convenient and secure payments with minimal or no fees!

PromptPay: Transforming Thailand to a digital economy @ https://www.vocalink.com/news-insights/stories/promptpay-podcast/

PromptPay is part of a Thai government-led payments modernisation programme to support financial inclusion and the roll-out of electronic payments.

It’s operated by National ITMX Ltd, a national payments service provider in Thailand, which engaged Vocalink to deliver the solution in 2015.

CASE STUDY of PromptPay - Transforming Thailand towards a digital economy @ https://www.vocalink.com/news-insights/case-studies/case-study-thailand-promptpay/

 

 

 

 Singapore’s PayNow: - Tagline - Easily make payments to anyone with PayNow

PayNow is a peer-to-peer funds transfer service available to retail customers of nine participating banks and three participating Non-Financial Institutions (NFIs) – Bank of China, Citibank Singapore, DBS / POSB Bank, HSBC, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited, Maybank, OCBC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, UOB, GrabPay, LiquidPay and Singtel Dash.

 

PayNow offers an enhanced funds transfer experience that enables retail customers of the nine participating banks and three participating NFIs to send and receive Singapore Dollar funds from one bank or e-wallet account to another in Singapore through FAST by using just their mobile number, Singapore NRIC/FIN, or Virtual Payment Address (VPA), instantly.

 

The sender no longer needs to know the recipient’s bank/e-wallet provider and account number when transferring money via PayNow.

 

PayNow, which launched on 10 July 2017 for participating banks and on 8 February 2021 for participating NFIs, is provided free to retail customers and is available 24/7, 365days.

 

ASEAN: Tagline – One Vision, One Identity, One Community

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand, with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration) by the Founding Fathers of ASEAN, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Brunei Darussalam joined on 7 January 1984, Viet Nam on 28 July 1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999, making up what is today the ten Member States of ASEAN.

Disclaimer: These are my personal views only. The bottom line is Mission #LessCashNotCashLess. Nothing more-Nothing less

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Additional reading material:

JOINT BOT-MAS MEDIA RELEASE - Thailand and Singapore Launch World’s First Linkage of Real-time Payment Systems

Singapore and Thailand Launch World's First Linkage of Real-time Payment Systems

Infographic about the process flow

  Singapore PayNow links up with Thailand's PromptPay in a world-first for cross-border fast payments