Thailand is proving to become a leader in QR cross-border payments. Thailand’s fifth largest bank by assets, the Bank of Ayudhya (BAY), worked with Japanese majority shareholder Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group to launch a cross-border QR code system. Customers of BAY were able to use their Thai QR code with any banking app to process purchases at leading shopping malls across Japan.
Thailand is seeking pathways into expanding cross-border QR payment functionality to other countries in ASEAN as well. SCB partnered with Singapore-based Liquid Group in November 2019 to establish a Singapore-Thailand corridor that will support cross-border QR payments between the two countries.
Not two months later, SCB signed a memorandum of understanding with the second-largest bank in Myanmar, the Ayeyarwady Bank, to develop cross-border payments and fund-transfer services for workers and SMEs in the two countries. The Bank of Thailand hopes to begin operations for these projects beginning mid-2020.
Thailand is taking major strides in expanding QR cross-border payment acceptance across Asia Pacific region. It looks as though Thailand will play a major role in establishing cross-border payment corridors across Asia Pacific, trailblazing the way to a future where seamless cross-border transfers in Asia Pacific will become the norm.