A shopper in Thailand can now point a phone at a Malaysian DuitNow QR code and pay a shop in Malaysia within seconds. Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Bank of Thailand (BOT) switched on the first stage of a shared QR payment system on 18 June 2021.
The two central banks started work on the project in June 2020 and will finish it in three phases. Phase one ties Malaysia’s real-time retail payment platform, known as RPP or DuitNow, to Thailand’s PromptPay. Thai users can already pay Malaysian merchants from their mobile payment apps, and that includes online cross-border purchases.
BNM expects the service to matter more once international travel resumes. Visitors will be able to pay with an app instead of carrying cash.
What comes next
Phase two is due in the fourth quarter of 2021. Malaysians will then scan Thai QR codes to pay merchants in Thailand, the mirror image of today’s arrangement. The final phase adds cross-border remittance. People in either country will be able to send money in real time by entering the recipient’s mobile phone number, and that is slated for the fourth quarter of 2022.
Thailand has made a similar interoperable payments arrangement with Singapore.
Who is already on board
CIMB Thai Bank and Public Bank Berhad are the first two banks offering the service to customers. Other payment service providers are expected to join, which would widen the base of users and shops.
Payments Network Malaysia (PayNet) and the National ITMX (NITMX) run the payment systems on each side. Banks in the CIMB Group act as settlement banks, handling the money behind every transaction that crosses the border.
What the central banks said
Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour, BNM’s deputy governor, said the link “will enhance the efficiency and convenience of cross-border payments by providing users with faster, cheaper, and more inclusive payment arrangements.” He added that it would give consumers and merchants more options and “serve as a key enabler to strengthen regional connectivity and financial integration.”
Ronadol Numnonda, the BOT’s deputy governor, said his bank has pursued payment links of this kind for some time. The connection builds on Thailand’s domestic payment infrastructure, he said, and “will facilitate the cross-border trade and e-commerce, thus contributing to economic growth and digitalization.”
BNM described the launch as a milestone in the ASEAN Payment Connectivity initiative, which aims for greater efficiency, lower costs and a better user experience in cross-border payments. It also called the link an enabler of post-pandemic economic recovery.
