MORE BUSINESSES SET TO ALLOW ‘SMART’ SHOPPING WITH QR CODE
AS PART OF Thailand’s aspiration to
become a cashless society, the country will soon adopt a new nationwide
e-payment method using the so-called QR Code familiar to social media
users.
The Bank of Thailand has approved plans by five commercial banks to
introduce the QR Code e-payment service – Kasikornbank, Siam Commercial
Bank, Bangkok Bank, Krungthai Bank and Government Savings Bank.
The addition of the service is expected to help reduce dependence on
cash transactions as more businesses are set to accept the new e-payment
method.
During a recent experiment in using the service at Bangkok’s Chatuchak
Sunday market, more than 1,000 small vendors as well as service
providers including motorcycle taxis accepted payment from customers
using their mobile phones to transfer money via the QR Code.
The method is convenient and carries no additional transaction costs for either sellers or service providers.
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The QR Code e-payment platform was pioneered by China’s e-commerce and
social media giants, Alibaba and Wechat, which operate the Alipay and
Wechat Pay apps respectively.
Its popularity makes it possible to live in China today without having to use cash for most goods and services.
China is now the world’s leader for QR Code e-payments, which has
disrupted more traditional payment services such as debit and credit
cards.
The huge number of Chinese tourists in Thailand, totalling nearly 10
million per year, has also prompted the early adoption of the e-payment
method among Thai convenience stores and retail operators.
Earlier, the Thai government launched the PromptPay e-payment service
for domestic use, making free of charge small-value money transfers via
bank accounts.
The PromptPay popularity is expected to further grow when the QR Code system is added to the e-payment platform.
To facilitate nationwide adoption of the new platform, the central bank
has taken steps to endorse a single Thai QR Code standard in accordance
with the international system for mobile applications.
In practice, consumers after downloading an app for the service that
matches their bank accounts could turn their smartphones or other
compatible devices into electronic purses by scanning a seller’s QR code
to pay for purchases at various goods and services outlets.
The money would then be automatically transferred from the buyer’s bank
account into the seller’s account based on a similar arrangement with
their participating bank.
The central bank has said that in a future stage it would expand the
e-payment platform to cover holders of credit cards so as to make it
more versatile.
Overall, the platform is a crucial element of Thailand’s emerging
digital economy and society in which the lifestyle of consumers
increasingly is closely tied to mobile phones and other smart devices.
For the government, any form of electronic payment is useful since it
creates electronic records on transactions that make tax collection more
efficient. In addition, the economy will benefit from more electronic
transactions by increasing efficiency – cash transactions are more
expensive due to higher costs.
For vendors, there is no additional transaction cost since banks are
keen to provide the service free of charge at this stage, with some
banks even offering additional financial incentives to early adopters
without conditions requiring minimum payment per transaction.
The new service will help banks stay close to both consumers and
businesses, big and small. This would allow banks to make use of the
huge amount of data generated by both buyers and sellers in multiple
ways.
While electronic transactions offer definite convenience advantages for
consumers, experts warn that they should ensure that their personal
devices are fully secured.
Source - TheNation
