Thailand’s PromptPay Plans B2B Payments Entrance

Thailand peer-to-peer payments tool PromptPay, a part of the nation’s efforts to push electronic payments, will soon step into the world of B2B payments.

Reports Wednesday (Feb. 8) said the solution, which has so far focused on the P2P electronic funds transfer space, will soon provide a way for companies to pay each other using its technology.

“From what we have monitored, the PromptPay service has worked efficiently, and even though there might be some problems, they were caused by human error, not the system,” said Bank of Thailand Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob this week, adding that transactions over the platform hit about 15,000 a day. The central bank struggled to roll out the tool last year after plans for an Oct. 2016 rollout had to be pushed back thanks to a “technical glitch.” Further testing for security enabled the full rollout last month, reports said.

“Even though the volume [of] transactions keeps increasing, it only accounts for a very small portion of traffic the system can handle,” Santiprabhob said, emphasizing the reliability of the tool that aims to help Thailand adopt electronic payments technologies. Considering the success, he said, PromptPay will soon begin services for business users.

But there are details to work out, reports said.

For one, the rollout of the B2B service may take longer than its consumer-focused operations because B2B payments require more documentation and data. Further, the central bank has not yet worked out the fee structure for B2B payments via PromptPay.

“We have a range of fees in mind, but the important thing for us is ensuring that there is a proper competition in this market segment,” Santiprabhob added.

Last month, reports said PromptPay is expected to save Thai banks as much as $2 billion over the next 10 years as it helps to reduce consumers’ and businesses’ use of cash.