Singapore-Thailand pact lets users send money cross-border via mobile number

Singapore and Thailand have inked a bilateral agreement that enables users in both nations to transfer funds using the recipient’s mobile number. The pact taps the respective country’s peer-to-peer payment systems and is part of a regional payment initiative to ease cross-border payments. 

The new partnership helped establish connectivity between Singapore’s PayNow and Thailand’s PromptPay platforms, to enable fund transfers of up to SG$1,000 ($753.4) or THB25,000 ($793.96) using mobile numbers. Touted as the first of its kind globally, the deal was the result of “years of extensive collaboration” between the two countries’ central banks, according to a joint statement released by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Bank of Thailand (BOT).