Thai Bank Siam Commercial Bank, or SCB for short, is the oldest bank in Thailand. SCB has now decided to collaborate with Ripple to create a cross-border payments app.
The news was announced by Ripple on January 8th. According to the announcement, the mobile app will be called SCB Easy and will run on Ripple’s blockchain technology.
The Senior Vice President of SCB, Mr. Arthit Sriumporn, shared the following regarding the new platform launch:
It is so difficult to send and receive money today. People must physically go to a bank branch, fill out long and complicated forms and wait for payments to be received—with no transparency. With our service, their loved ones from abroad can transfer payment and receive money immediately.
Mr. Sriumporn also showed a live demo of the app, confirming that funds can be transferred internationally in less than 1 minute.
What is interesting to note is that the Thai mobile payments market is huge, as well as the mobile market in Southeast Asia. As reported by press, 67% of the Thai population uses its mobiles for payments.
SCB is also planning to expand the presence of the mobile app in neighbouring countries as well, including Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia.
Furthermore, Ripple and SCB are also working to launch a QR code-based payment features to the mobile app. The feature will allow customers to also use micro-payment services.
More about Ripple can be found here: