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.
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
