Instant phone app cash transfers now possible between Singapore & Thailand

SINGAPORE, 29 April 2021:

Instant cash transfers can now be conducted using smarphone app transfers between Singapore’s PayNow and Thailand’s PromptPay real-time retail payment systems.

In a joint statement, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Bank of Thailand (BOT) said customers of participating banks will be able to transfer funds of up to S$1,000 or 25,000 baht daily across the two countries, using just a mobile number.

“There will be no need to populate information fields such as the recipient’s full name and bank account details, as with normal remittance solutions. The funds will flow seamlessly and securely between customers’ accounts in Singapore and Thailand.

“The experience will be similar to how domestic PayNow and PromptPay transfers are made today, in which senders can use their mobile banking or payment applications to initiate fund transfers instantly and securely, at any time of the day.

“The transfers will be completed within a matter of minutes, representing a marked improvement over the average of 1-2 working days needed by most cross-border remittance solutions.”

There will be a fee charged for this instant cross-border cash transfers and the authorities said “participating banks have committed to benchmark their fees against the market. The fees will be affordably priced and transparently displayed to senders prior to confirming their transfers.

“Senders will also be able to view the applicable foreign exchange charges prior to sending their funds, with these rates benchmarked closely to prevailing market rates.”

A further point to note is that the actual amount which may be transferred will depend on the foreign exchange rate at the time of sending, they reminded.

“With the success of PromptPay, our domestic payment system, we have sought to enhance cross-border linkages with Asean and other countries and have launched our QR cross-border payment connectivity with Japan, Lao PDR, Cambodia and Vietnam.” said BOT director Dr Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput.