According to a joint press release, Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand switched on the first leg of a shared QR payment system on 18 June 2021. The record shows the project began in June 2020 and is meant to run in three phases. The first is now finished.
What it does today is narrow. Customers in Thailand can open their mobile payment apps, scan a DuitNow QR code and pay merchants in Malaysia. That includes online cross-border e-commerce purchases. Traffic in the other direction is not open yet.
Two payment systems, one link
The work joined Malaysia’s real-time retail payments platform, RPP and DuitNow, to Thailand’s PromptPay. Both are fast payment systems built to credit a recipient’s account instantly. DuitNow QR is Malaysia’s national QR code, a single code that lets merchants take money from customers of different banks and e-wallets.
Two banks went first. CIMB Thai Bank and Public Bank Berhad began offering the service to their customers on launch day. The central banks said more payment providers are expected to follow. Payments Network Malaysia and the National ITMX act as the payment system operators, and banks in the CIMB Group handle settlement of the cross-border transactions.
What comes next
Phase two is set for the fourth quarter of 2021. Users in Malaysia will then be able to scan Thai QR codes and pay merchants in Thailand. The final phase, expected in the fourth quarter of 2022, adds cross-border remittances: people in either country will be able to send money in real time using only the recipient’s mobile phone number.
The banks tied the timing of the benefits to travel. The release said the service is expected to help more users in both countries once international travel resumes, since they can pay from a phone app rather than with cash.
Bank Negara Malaysia Deputy Governor Datuk Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour said the link “will enhance the efficiency and convenience of cross-border payments by providing users with faster, cheaper, and more inclusive payment arrangements.” His Thai counterpart, Deputy Governor Ronadol Numnonda of the Bank of Thailand, said the connection “will facilitate the cross-border trade and e-commerce, thus contributing to economic growth and digitalisation.”
Part of a wider ASEAN effort
The central banks described the link as a milestone for the ASEAN Payment Connectivity initiative, which aims to bring the region’s payment systems closer together. ASEAN Briefing noted that Thailand and Singapore had already connected PromptPay and PayNow in April 2021. That arrangement allows transfers of up to S$1,000 or THB25,000 a day through mobile phones.
The press release gave no figures on transaction volumes or fees for the Malaysia-Thailand link, and it did not say how many merchants had signed up.
Sources
- Launch of the Cross-Border QR Payment Linkage between Malaysia and Thailand (Bank Negara Malaysia / Bank of Thailand joint press release)
- Bank Negara Malaysia, Bank Of Thailand Launch Cross-Border QR Payment Linkage (Lowyat.NET)
- Malaysia and Thailand Launch QR Payment Linkage (ASEAN Briefing)
Sources
- Launch of the Cross-Border QR Payment Linkage between …
- Joint Press Release Launch of the Cross-Border QR Payment …
