HK's FPS accepted in Thailand amid cross-border digital payment collab

Starting today, HongKongers travelling to Thailand will be able to use the Faster Payment System (FPS) to make payments up to a daily limit of HK$10,000, following a partnership between the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Bank of Thailand.

Eddie Yue, chief executive, Hong Kong Monetary Authority said during a keynote speech during the Hong Kong FinTech Week 2023, that HKMA has been collaborating closely with the Bank of Thailand to link up HKMA's FPS with PromptPay. The two authorities will jointly launch a new service called “FPS x PromptPay QR Payment.”

The FPS is a payment financial infrastructure introduced in 2018 by the HKMA and operated by Hong Kong Interbank Clearing (HKICL) to enable instant payments in Hong Kong, providing consumers and merchants a safe, efficient and widely accessible retail payment service on a 24/7 basis.  

PromptPay is the real-time interbank payment system in Thailand, which allows banked consumers to transfer money to merchants and others using a telephone number, QR code, citizen ID, tax ID or a specific bank account.

Under the partnership, tourists travelling between Hong Kong and Thailand can use their domestic real-time settlement payment systems for making purchases. This move aims to expedite digital transformation and create more business opportunities for local vendors.

With this development, tourists from Hong Kong can utilise their local payment systems such as the Faster Payment System (FPS), while tourists from Thailand can use their local payment systems such as PromptPay, to make payments during their travels at over 8 million PromptPay merchants.  

“This will do away with the hassle of exchanging Hong Kong dollars for Thai Baht in advance because the exchange conversion will take place during the transaction. In the other direction, Hong Kong FPS merchants which accept QR payments will also benefit by being able to receive PromptPay payments from Thai tourists,” said Yue. 

Yue added that the initiative enhanced the convenience and efficiency of cross-border transactions and supported the growth of digital payment systems in both regions.

Seven Hong Kong banks and two stored value facility operators will support such services in early stages, according to SCMP. They are the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Bank of China Hong Kong, Hang Seng Bank, Bank of East Asia, Citibank (Hong Kong), Bank of Communications (Hong Kong) and Fubon Bank (Hong Kong), as well as Octopus Card and Tap & Go under HKT Payment, with HSBC as the clearing bank on the Hong Kong side.

Moreover, five Thai banks will participate by supporting those who accept payments from Hong Kong tourists who scan PromptPay QR codes.

According to the report, Howard Lee, deputy chief executive of the HKMA, revealed that the daily payment limit of HK$10,000 can be adjusted in the future depending on the utilisation situation. He said that Thailand was one of the most popular tourist destinations for HongKongers, and has extensive experience in cross-border linkages of faster payment systems.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to the HKMA for more information. 

Back in November, the HKMA together with the Hong Kong Association of Banks (HKAB) and the banking sector, supported the launch of the Anti-Deception Alliance (ADA) by the Hong Kong Police Force. It said the Faster Payment System Suspicious Proxy ID Alert based on the Scameter database will also be launched soon.

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