Cashless society seen in three years

THE Thailand E-Payment Trade Association (TEPA) believes Thailand will go cashless within three years. E-money accounts would grow this year by 10 per cent from 40 million or about 60 per cent of the population last year and online payments by 20-30 per cent from Bt170 billion, according to TEPA.

Punnamas Vichitkulwongsa, chairman of TEPA and chief executive of Ascend Group, said the association now counts 16 e-payment service provider members, such as TrueMoney, mPay and Thai Smart Card. 

The factors driving customers to open e-money accounts to support their daily routines are the competition by banks and non-bank providers to meet the demands of customers and the potential for more customers to pay for products and services via online channels.

The association will help develop the e-payment and e-commerce industry in the country by adopting the Thai QR Code and PromptPay.

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 The Thai QR Code employs a common standard for e-payments in the country. 

PromptPay services will include PromptPay e-wallet services on September 15. 

TEPA will upgrade the country’s e-payment industry to global standards and boost confidence in e-payment among Thai consumers and retailers.

E-transactions will be part of the Thailand 4.0 initiative, which will help businesses reduce operating costs, create confidence for consumers and provide greater convenience for consumers to pay for products and service fees. 

Ascend Group has 3 million active TrueMoney accounts now and expects 4 million by the end of the year. Each account-holder spends an average of Bt220 per time to buy products or services

Somwang Luangphaiboonsri, country lead at PayPal Thailand, said e-transactions continue to grow because customers have confidence to spend money via e-payment channels in the country, due to the government’s support for e-payments. 

PayPal has 210 million active accounts and 17 million active business accounts globally. It enables businesses and customers to make secure cross-border transactions while affording protection to buyers and sellers.

Source - TheNation

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#Cambodia - Sihanoukville port rides wave of increasing container traffic.

Sihanoukville Autonomous Port (PAS), which operates the Kingdom’s only deepsea port, reported a modest increase in container traffic during the first six months of the year, compared to a year earlier, a trend its director said should result in higher profits for the listed company.

Data obtained from PAS yesterday showed a total of 211,719 20-foot equivalent units, or TEU, passed through the seaport between January and June of this year, an 8 percent increase compared to the same period in 2016. The higher throughput follows a slowdown in growth last year in which container traffic increased by just 2 percent.

Lou Kim Chhun, director general of PAS, said yesterday that the rebound in container traffic growth was the result of Cambodia’s vibrant import and export market, which should be expected for a country that is enjoying 7 percent GDP growth. PAS also recently added new rubber-tyred gantry cranes, which expanded its handling capacity and helped to build more confidence in the port’s operations, he noted.

“Based on the good performance in the first half, we expect double-digit growth of container traffic this year,” he said. “The increased growth of cargo traffic will enlarge our profit margin, which in turn will enable us to distribute high dividends to our stock investors.”

The increase in port container traffic was distributed evenly between imports and exports. 

According to PAS data, imports increased by 8.4 percent year-on-year to 107,181 TEU during the first half, while exports increased by 7.7 percent year-on-year to 104,538.

PAS debuted on Cambodia’s stock exchange in June after an initial public offering that raised $27 million. It was the fifth company to list on the Cambodian Securities Exchange. 

Source - PhnomPenhPost