Bangkok--7 Jun--KASIKORNBANK
As revealed by the Thai Bankers' Association (TBA), the number of PromptPay transactions reached a total of 7.5 million, valued at 48 billion Baht. These transactions were conducted by around 28.3 million individuals and 30,000 juristic persons. In the second half of 2017, TBA will launch two new services, namely Request to Pay for merchants to collect payment and customers to make payment via PromptPay, and Cross Bank Bill Payment to facilitate businesses' payment collection processes. Registered users at the end of this year are expected to number 30 million individual and business customers.
TBA Chairman Mr. Predee Daochai said TBA and 21 banks, in advancing the National e-Payment Master Plan, implemented the PromptPay service on January 27, 2017, as an online funds transfer channel for individual customers, and extended the service coverage to business customers on March 1, 2017. Service use has increased continually to an accumulated transaction value of 48 billion Baht as of May 21, 2017, via 7.5 million transactions, according to the Bank of Thailand's data. The highest daily transaction record was approximately 100,000 items.
During the second half of this year, two additional new servi ces under PromptPay are expected to be launched to accommodate various functions. They are Request to Pay and Cross Bank Bill Payment. The first features payment instructions sent by providers of goods, services, insurance, etc. via PromptPay to their customers, who simply confirm the instructions and swiftly make payment through the system, thus offering greater convenience for both payers and payees. The service is expected to be available in the fourth quarter of this year.
Meanwhile, Cross Bank Bill Payment is intended to facilitate businesses with regular bill payment collections. The service - featuring bill payment across other banks with a sole bank agent via PromptPay - is convenient for payers as they can make bill payments right away. Business operators are not required to enter into agreement for bill payment acceptance with each bank, making it easier to run their business. The service is expected to be introduced on a trial basis in the final quarter of this year.
Mr. Predee said that after the PromptPay service was introduced in Thailand less than four months ago, its transaction volume increased substantially over that found in some European countries after as much as two years. It is reassuring that there have been no complaints regarding security or errors of the PromptPay system from users thus far. The TBA, therefore, believes that users have growing confidence in the PromptPay service, and hopes that it will become a hybrid between a service and basic infrastructure that enables consumers, businesses and government agencies to conduct financial transactions, including money transfers, more conveniently in the future. With the additional new services, PromptPay will become even more popular. This will not only help induce users to use less cash, but also cut Thailand's overall cash management costs and support the transition towards a digital economy.
As of mid-May, registration for PromptPay by juristic persons and individuals was recorded at 30,000 and 28.3 million transactions respectively. By year-end 2017, the number of registered PromptPay users is targeted at 30 million.