The central bank has approved five banks’ QR code processes, accelerating the rollout of digital payments throughout the country. Danielle Myles reports.

China’s embrace of quick response (QR) codes as a form of digital payments is spreading throughout Asia-Pacific.

It is estimated that $1650bn of transactions in Asia’s biggest economy were made via QR codes last year. Late this year Thailand accelerated its rollout of electronic payments thanks to the central bank’s approval of five local lenders’ QR services.

On November 13 Bank of Thailand announced that five of the eight banks that had been testing their QR code payments in its regulatory sandbox can now provide those services to the public.

data trends 281117

They include the country’s four biggest banks by Tier 1 capital. Bangkok Bank tops the table with $10.07bn, followed by Siam Commercial Bank which was the country’s most profitable lender in 2016. Kasikornbank ($7.72bn Tier 1) and state-owned Krung Thai Bank ($6.96bn) have also been given the green light to offer QR services.

The last bank is Government Saving Bank, which is the country’s sixth biggest bank with $3.86bn in Tier 1. Thailand’s fifth biggest lender, Bank of Ayudhya which is a subsidiary of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, is still testing its QR system in the regulatory sandbox.

All data sourced from www.thebankerdatabase.com

PLEASE ENTER YOUR DETAILS TO WATCH THIS VIDEO

All fields are mandatory

The Banker is a service from the Financial Times. The Financial Times Ltd takes your privacy seriously.

Choose how you want us to contact you.

Invites and Offers from The Banker

Receive exclusive personalised event invitations, carefully curated offers and promotions from The Banker



For more information about how we use your data, please refer to our privacy and cookie policies.

Terms and conditions

Join our community

The Banker on Twitter