Thai Digital Payments Quadruple From Pre-COVID-19 

Digital payments across Thailand are four times as frequent as they were before the COVID-19 pandemic, as the country’s infection rate is increasing the need for online services, the central bank told Reuters in report on Monday (Oct. 11). 

Thailand’s most recent pandemic outbreak started in April and accounts for more than 98% of the COVID-19 cases and deaths, leading to harsher restrictions this summer. 

The 28 million daily transaction count through the PromptPay platform is “quite a big jump” from pre-pandemic levels, Assistant Governor Siritida Panomwon Na Ayudhya said. 

Central bank data shows transactions were in the 7 million daily range in 2019 and 14.5 million in 2020. 

Related: RippleNet Expands Operations In S. Korea-Thailand Remittance Corridor 

In August, RippleNet, Ripple’s global financial network, announced a collaboration with Global Money Express (GME Remittance).

The partnership connected GME Remittance, one of the largest non-bank remittance service providers in South Korea, to Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), one of Thailand’s largest lenders by assets. There are about 180,000 Thailand natives in South Korea.  

“The remittance corridors requiring high-performance payments to this region are growing exponentially — with people needing to send money round the clock, even on holidays or weekends,” said Emi Yoshikawa, vice president of corporate strategy and operations at Ripple, in the announcement. 

Also Read: NEW REPORT: Capturing the Global Cryptocurrency Payments Opportunity 

PYMNTS’ new report, “The Cryptocurrency Payments Opportunity: Driving Crypto Adoption And Use Around The Globe,” examines how attitudes and perceptions of cryptocurrencies are changing worldwide, as well as how businesses, banks and other financial players can take advantage of the opportunities these changes present and analyze what tools and technologies may prove key for such entities to do so. 

One recent study finds almost half (48%) of investors in the U.S. bought such alternative currencies in the first half of 2021. The report also learned almost two in five investors (37%) ages 18 to 44 years old who have not yet bought digital currencies are either “very” or “somewhat” interested in doing so, compared to less than 20 percent (19%) among people 60 and older.