Cambodia and Thailand Extend Cross-border QR Code Payments
07/06/2023

Chea Chanto, governor of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) and Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput, visiting governor of the Bank of Thailand, presided over the launch event in Phnom Penh.

Serey Chea Deputy Governor at the National Bank of Cambodia said on her personal LinkedIn “In 2020 we launched Cambodia selected banks’ QR scanning QR from elected banks in Thailand. Today we launched phase 2 of our collaboration with ThaiQR scanning 1.5 million KHQR merchants in Cambodia and KHQR can scan 7.6 million merchants in Thailand, making QR payments between the two countries a lot easier emphasizing the use of local currencies for transactions.”

According to a statement from NBC, the cross-border QR code payments aim to promote the usage of local currencies and financial inclusion, facilitate cross-border trade activities, and boost tourism in both countries.

They say that since 2020, Cambodians have been able to pay for goods or services through mobile banking applications by scanning QR codes at retail merchants in Thailand. The second phase will allow Thais* to do the same in Cambodia as of June 6, 2023.

*The users of the QR code payment system will be required to have a bank account in their local currency.
https://www.b2b-cambodia.com/news/cambo ... -payments/

Alex wrote: ↑Fri Jun 09, 2023 11:23 am That's very interesting. I didn't know about this part:

"They say that since 2020, Cambodians have been able to pay for goods or services through mobile banking applications by scanning QR codes at retail merchants in Thailand."

Has anyone ever tried that? I guess I could just scan a Thai PromptPay QR code with my ABA Bank app and see what happens.

I use QR code payments in both Cambodia and Thailand all the time, but I've only tried it with local mobile banking apps so far.

This is only for banks who support this feature. As for my knowledge ABA is not one of them. Acelda was one of the first who implemented it.
https://www.acledabank.com.kh/kh/eng/info-20220929

Stage 2 that they mentioned is to integrate Thai QR payment into Bakong payment. In this case all banks who are connected to Bakong in Cambodia will be able to pay in Thailand.
From my understanding stage 2 is not completed yet.

I agree with you richard, never used qr-codes either and i prefere WISE also, but at the end useally cash is king, was last week in Morocco and found exchange offices with rates only 2% difference between buy and sell (useally i check that first), it means they only make about 1% on every change-transaction, about same as the guys on 136 near Phsar Thmey. When i drove of the ferry in Morocco i first looked for an ATM to get some cash for the first day, exchange rate was 2.5% down, and 2.5% ATM-costs, total 5% lost. Hallelujaaahh the good old 500-euro notes to change . . .
The big banks want to make money to pay for all the fancy buildings and the Lexusses parked outside ofcourse, of not speaking from soccer-teams they sponsor, isn it ??
And those QR-codes wont change their bussiness-plan i suppose !!

can you use wise to send thb to usd account in cambodian aba account?