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PayNow and PromptPay team up to deliver cross-border fast payments

Date: April 30, 2021 Nandita Bhardwaj Nandita Bhardwaj
PayNow and PromptPay team up to deliver cross-border fast payments 
Singapores PayNow, a platform that lets consumers transfer money by using just a mobile number, is now reportedly linked to Thailands online banking platform, PromptPay. The link-up was announced through a joint statement from the Bank of Thailand and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.



This collaboration between the national fast payment systems of both the countries is the very first of its kind globally.



Three out of 12 PayNow banks of Singapore are participating in the scheme, which are UOB, OCBC Bank and DBS Bank. Meanwhile, four banks from Thailand, namely Siam Commercial Bank, Krung Thai Bank, Kasikorn Bank, and Bangkok Bank, would be participating in the deal.



This linkage would allow users of the participating banks to send and receive funds of approximately $1,000 (25,000 baht or S$1,060) on a daily basis across the two countries, with just their mobile phones.



The funds would effortlessly flow and securely between the accounts of users in Thailand and Singapore, and the transfers would be done in less than five minutes. This would offer a noticeable improvement over the standard one to two working days required by several cross-border payment solutions.



The PayNow-PromptPay link is a major partnership under the initiative of ASEAN Payment Connectivity that was started in 2019. It aligns closely with efforts by the Group of 20, FSB, as well as other international standard-setting bodies to deliver cheaper, faster, and more inclusive as well as transparent payment arrangements between cross borders. 



MD, Monetary Authority of Singapore, Ravi Menon, stated that the shared objective of MAS with Bank of Thailand is to work with its ASEAN equals so as to extend this new bilateral link into a wide network of retail payment methods that are linked across ASEAN.



Governor of Bank of Thailand, Dr Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput, stated that Thailand too seeks to improve cross-border links with ASEAN as well as other countries. It has also launched its QR-based cross-border payment connectivity with Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Japan.



Source credit: https://www.straitstimes.com/business/banking/paynow-links-up-with-thailands-promptpay-in-a-world-first-for-fast-payments

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Nandita Bhardwaj

Nandita holds a management degree with specialization in marketing, and boasts of a short-term experience in the field of recruitment. Following her passion for writing however, she decided to pursue a career in the field of content development. Presently, Nandita pens down news pieces for newsorigins.com, spanning the verticals of business, finance, and technology.