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Cambodia: Kingdom benefits from Thai QR payments

  • Feb 11, 2020

The Bank of Thailand (BOT) says it will expand QR cross-border payments with Singapore, Myanmar and Cambodia, beginning from the middle of this year.

BOT Assistant Governor for payment systems policy and financial technology Siritida Panomwonna Ayudhya was quoted by Thai newspaper The Nation as saying that each Thai bank has developed regional interoperability for standardised QR code payments that can be used in different countries under the sponsoring bank and switching-to-switching systems.

The development of the payment system is a collaboration between central banks, financial institutions and payment service providers in the Asean region.

In February last year, the Central banks of Cambodia and Thailand signed a memorandum of understanding to create a payment system based on QR codes. Named Interoperable QR Payment, it aims to facilitate cross-border exchanges in local currencies.

Its goal is to make payments more convenient for tourists and firms while also strengthening the currencies of both countries.

The launch of the new youth-centric app was witnessed by officials from Cellcard and the three participating universities. Supplied

The National Bank of nCambodia (NBC) anounced in June last year that the Foreign Trade Bank of Cambodia (FTB), Acleda Bank, and Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) had joined the scheme. According to the NBC, these three banks have become “sponsoring banks”, which means other banks that wish to provide the payment service will have to work with them.

The launch of the cross-border, QR code-based payment system is expected before the end of the year.  In a meeting early this year with NBC’s Governor Chea Chanto, Bank of Thailand Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob said he was delighted to see progress in the development of cross-border payment infrastructure between Cambodia and Thailand.

“Interoperable QR Payment is important because Cambodia is a popular destination for Thai tourists, who like conducting payments on their smartphones,” he said.

According to NBC, the QR payment system will allow Cambodian tourists to purchase goods and pay for medical treatment in Thailand in their own currency, the riel. It will also allow Cambodian migrant workers to send remittances in riel.

Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50689679/kingdom-benefits-from-thai-qr-payments