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Thailand: BBL to offer cross-border QR payment with Vietnam
Bangkok Bank (BBL) has become the first local bank to offer cross-border QR payments between Thailand and Vietnam. The service will help support economic recovery as Thailand opens up after the pandemic, the bank says.
The project to promote cross-border payments via QR code technology is the fruit of a collaboration between the Bank of Thailand and the State Bank of Vietnam. Asean central banks have been working on digital payment connectivity across the region since 2019.
The strength of the service lies in its safe and convenient transactions as well as its lower exchange rate fees, said Charamporn Jotikasthira, executive director of Bangkok Bank.
In addition, he said, QR payments are accepted by a large number of retailers and have high customer awareness as well.
The bank is now waiting for Thailand to open up to tourists in order to roll out the service, with an emphasis on creating a good experience for customers.
In 2019, around 1.5 million tourists flowed between the two countries.
Visitors to Vietnam will be able to use the BBL mobile banking app, Bualuang m-Banking, to scan and pay for goods in the country. Customers of participating Vietnamese banks can pay for products and services in Thailand with their respective bank apps.
In the first phase, merchants in Vietnam that accept BBL mobile banking QR payment will be those in tourist destinations or economic centres such as Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Mui Ne, as well as leading local coffee shops in Vietnam.
In Thailand last year, the volume of e-payment transactions, including QR code payments, reached 13.39 million, up by 49.1% from 2019. Consequently, Bangkok Bank expects that as economic activity resumes and cross-border travel and tourism gradually recover, cross-border QR payment service will play an important role in supporting economic activity during the recovery period, said Mr Charamporn.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2090595/bbl-to-offer-cross-border-qr-payment-with-vietnam