Pre-registration of PromptPay
THE NATIONAL e-payment scheme kicks off today with the first phase of PromptPay pre-registration, and every bank has made preparations including special promotions to keep their existing customers.
PromptPay is an electronic system for receiving and transferring funds using a national identity number or mobile phone without needing to provide an account number. The system will be initiated at the end of October.
Pre-registration for the system runs from today to July 14. Each bank will have to transfer their customers’ registrations to National ITMX Co, a provider of inter-bank payment systems, on July 15, the official registration date for PromptPay.
It is probable that if a customer registers with more than one bank, the duplication will be handled by National ITMX, said Kukkong Ruckphaophan, Bangkok Bank executive vice president for customer service management technology.
Duplicate registrations may happen because the average Thai uses 2.5 banks, he said.
National ITMX will check the PromptPay registration database, and if there is a duplication, the system will reject the registration.
After July 15, each bank will send text messages to customers who registered with it to confirm the PromptPay service.
Money transfers via PromptPay will go into effect on October 31. Senders will not be charged a fee if the amount is no more than Bt5,000 and is sent to a terminal registered with PromptPay.
Anurak Tantipipattana, senior vice president for CASA (current and savings accounts) and e-banking at Thanachart Bank, said the bank was accepting pre-registrations at its branches and its call centre. After July 15, it will accept official registrations via mobile banking and automated teller machines.
Siam Commercial Bank first executive vice president Phanporn Kongyingyong, who is head of the bank’s retail segment, said it was setting up a promotional campaign for PromptPay. Customers registering for the service at SCB between now and October 31 will have a chance to win a gold necklace. Prizes are worth Bt25 million in total.
Songpol Chevapanyaroj, senior executive vice president and head of Krungthai Bank’s global transaction banking group, said KTB targeted half of its 20 million depositors signing up for PromptPay with the bank. Most will probably sign up through ATMs on its Netbank service.
