Mastercard Strengthens its Leading Position in Real-Time Payments in Asia Pacific with Increased Focus on Thailand

Global payments and technology leader is bringing further innovation to Thailand as part of its push to advance the regional digital payments agenda

Today, at the Bangkok Fintech Fair 2019, Mastercard announced a commitment to deliver a growing suite of real-time and digital payment solutions across Asia Pacific through its regional real-time payments hub, with data centers in Thailand and Singapore.

This hub will be offered as a managed service that will enable faster delivery of new and innovative real-time payments services, responding to the needs of banks, businesses and consumers across Asia Pacific. This aligns with the Thai government’s ambitious ‘Thailand 4.0’ vision and Bank of Thailand’s ‘Digital Payments Roadmap’ both of which prioritize the establishment of interoperable digital payments infrastructure.

As part of its commitment, Mastercard has announced that it will continue to extend innovative payments applications and value-added services such as ‘Pay by Account’, which will enable consumers to make payments directly from their accounts at eligible domestic and international Mastercard contactless and QR acceptance points.

Pay by Account helps banks enhance services offered through digital banking, providing consumers with choice and convenience, including small everyday payments, underpinned by the trust and security offered by the bank and Mastercard.

Mastercard has a long track record of providing payments services in Asia Pacific, and now, through its acquisition of Vocalink, it provides account-based real-time payments infrastructure to multiple markets in the region. In Singapore, Vocalink has provided the technology behind FAST since 2014, and in Thailand, it has licensed its technology to Thailand’s local switch company, National Interbank Transaction Management and Exchange (ITMX), and was also a strategic partner for the launch of PromptPay in 2017.

PromptPay enables users to pay directly from their bank account using the recipient’s mobile phone number or national ID. According to the latest figures from the Bank of Thailand, PromptPay has had 48m registrations since launch. In February 2019, Mastercard also became the first company to partner with National ITMX, to widen the e-commerce acceptance of Thai debit cards in Thailand.

Real-time payments have become increasingly popular around the world for both businesses and consumers, offering an effective, secure and efficient way to send and receive money. As funds are immediately available once the transaction is approved, real-time payments help to improve cash flow, deliver operational improvements, data transparency and accuracy. A global Mastercard survey showed that 85% of financial institutions see real-time payments as a solution to improving efficiencies in the payment system.