Singapore and Thailand have linked their respective real-time payment systems, enabling instant transfer of consumer funds across borders.
The linkage of Singapore’s PayNow and Thailand’s PromptPay real-time retail payment systems is the culmination of several years of extensive collaboration between the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the bank of Thailand.
Under the arrangements, customers of participating banks in Singapore and Thailand will be able to transfer funds of up to S$1,000 or THB25,000 daily, with conversion into the local currency dependent on the foreign exchange rate at the time of sending.
To complete a money transfer, consumers need just to enter the recipient's mobile phone number, eliminating the need to populate information fields with full name and bank account details, as with normal remittance payments.
Ravi Menon, Managing Director of MAS, says: “The PayNow-PromptPay linkage is only the beginning. MAS’ shared objective with BOT is to work with our 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.”