Singapore and Thailand are in discussions about connecting their national digital payment systems to forge an unprecedented regional alliance.
As officials step up efforts to curb the use of cash, the link would bring together Southeast Asia’s first national digital-payment platforms, Singapore’s PayNow and Thailand’s PromptPay.
Both networks allow peer-to-peer transfers via banks and enable payments to be made using recipients’ mobile phone or national identity card numbers.
«The Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Bank of Thailand are exploring the possibility of a link between the two networks» said, Naphongthawat Phothikit director of payment systems policy at the Bank of Thailand.
Jack Ma's Jump
Although cash remains the payment of choice in the region, China's giant financial technology firms, such as Ant Financial, the payments affiliate of billionaire Jack Ma's Alibaba Group have moved quickly to develop their business in Southeast Asia.
As a result banks are playing catch up rolling out their own alternatives. The Bank of Thailand oversaw the January roll out of the PromptPay service by the nation's banks, and now has 24 million registrations via national identity cards.
While in Singapore PayNow was introduced by the country's banking association in July, and has over 500,000 registrations, according to a Monetary Authority of Singapore release in August.
