# PromptPay-PayNow

> Source: https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/promptpay-paynow
> research date 2026-06-03 · extracted at 2026-10-06
> Publisher: Barcoder — encyclopedia of QR, barcode and payment-code standards

Specifications:
- [Singapore and Thailand Launch World's First Linkage of Real-time Payment Systems — MAS](https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/media-releases/2021/singapore-and-thailand-launch-worlds-first-linkage-of-real-time-payment-systems)
- [Cross-border Payment Linkages — Bank of Thailand](https://www.bot.or.th/en/financial-innovation/digital-finance/digital-payment/cross-border-payment.html)
- [PromptPay — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PromptPay)

## Overview

The **PromptPay–PayNow Linkage** is a bilateral connection between Thailand's PromptPay and Singapore's PayNow real-time retail payment systems that lets customers of participating banks send cross-border transfers to each other using only the recipient's registered **mobile phone number**, without supplying a bank account number or full name. Launched on **29 April 2021** by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Bank of Thailand (BOT), it is widely described as **the world's first linkage of two countries' real-time (faster) payment systems** <sup>[1][1]</sup> <sup>[3][3]</sup>. It is a flagship deliverable under the broader **ASEAN Payment Connectivity** initiative begun in 2019 <sup>[1][1]</sup>.

## History

PromptPay is Thailand's national instant payment scheme, launched in **2016** and operated by **National ITMX** under the oversight of the Bank of Thailand; it lets users transfer funds addressed by mobile phone number, citizen identification number, or bank account number <sup>[3][3]</sup>. PayNow is Singapore's equivalent peer-to-peer instant transfer service, operated under the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS), addressed by mobile number, NRIC/FIN, or business UEN.

MAS and BOT, together with the two systems' operators — **NETS Group** (Singapore) and **National ITMX** (Thailand) — their bankers' associations, and participating banks, launched the cross-border linkage on **29 April 2021** after several years of collaboration <sup>[1][1]</sup>. The project is positioned as a concrete step under **ASEAN Payment Connectivity** (initiated 2019) and aligned with G20 and Financial Stability Board goals for faster, cheaper, more inclusive and transparent cross-border payments <sup>[1][1]</sup>.

## Technical specification

- **Addressing by mobile number.** A sender enters only the recipient's mobile phone number (registered with PromptPay or PayNow); the recipient's full name and bank account details do not need to be populated, unlike conventional remittance <sup>[1][1]</sup>.
- **Transfer limits.** At launch the service catered for small-value person-to-person transactions of up to **S$1,000 or THB 25,000 per day** <sup>[1][1]</sup>. The S$1,000 cap is applied per user per day, shared across a bank's apps <sup>[6][6]</sup>.
- **Foreign exchange.** Conversion uses applicable foreign-exchange rates disclosed to the customer; the service is positioned as a low-cost alternative to traditional remittance <sup>[1][1]</sup>.
- **Speed and availability.** Transfers are near real-time and available 24/7 between customers of participating banks <sup>[2][2]</sup>.

## Use cases

- Person-to-person remittances between Thailand and Singapore (e.g., the large Thai worker community in Singapore sending money home) <sup>[4][4]</sup>.
- Tourist and traveller transfers using a mobile number rather than account details <sup>[1][1]</sup>.
- A reference template for subsequent bilateral and multilateral faster-payment linkages across ASEAN <sup>[2][2]</sup>.

## Implementations

- **Singapore side (launch):** DBS, OCBC and UOB <sup>[6][6]</sup>.
- **Thailand side (launch):** Bangkok Bank (BBL), Kasikornbank (KBank), Krung Thai Bank (KTB) and Siam Commercial Bank (SCB); Bank of Ayudhya (Krungsri) was subsequently added, bringing the Thai roster toward five banks <sup>[6][6]</sup>.
- Consumer access is through participating banks' apps — e.g. DBS/POSB digibank and iWealth in Singapore <sup>[6][6]</sup>.

## Comparison

The PromptPay–PayNow linkage is the **bilateral template** that later faster-payment linkages followed. Whereas this scheme connects two *account-to-account real-time transfer* systems via mobile-number addressing, the parallel ASEAN cross-border **QR** linkages (e.g. PromptPay–DuitNow, PayNow–QRIS) connect *merchant QR acceptance* networks. The Regional Payment Connectivity (RPC) framework, signed by ASEAN central banks in 2022–2023, generalised these one-to-one links toward a multilateral mesh covering KHQR, QRIS, Lao QR, DuitNow, QR Ph, PayNow, PromptPay and VietQR <sup>[7][7]</sup>. Both BOT and MAS have stated intentions to **add participating banks and raise the daily transfer limits** to support business (not just P2P) transactions <sup>[2][2]</sup> <sup>[6][6]</sup>.

## Fun facts

- It is repeatedly cited as **the world's first linkage of two real-time/faster payment systems**, predating other bilateral fast-payment links <sup>[1][1]</sup> <sup>[3][3]</sup>.
- A sender needs nothing more than the recipient's **mobile number** — the linkage strips away the account-number-and-name friction of legacy cross-border remittance <sup>[1][1]</sup>.

## Status

Live since **29 April 2021** <sup>[1][1]</sup>. The link remains the foundational ASEAN bilateral fast-payment connection and has been folded into the broader Regional Payment Connectivity programme; both central banks continue to signal planned expansion of participating banks and higher limits for business use <sup>[2][2]</sup> <sup>[6][6]</sup>.

## Sources

[1] [Singapore and Thailand Launch World's First Linkage of Real-time Payment Systems](https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/media-releases/2021/singapore-and-thailand-launch-worlds-first-linkage-of-real-time-payment-systems) — Monetary Authority of Singapore, 2021
[2] [Cross-border Payment Linkages](https://www.bot.or.th/en/financial-innovation/digital-finance/digital-payment/cross-border-payment.html) — Bank of Thailand
[3] [PromptPay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PromptPay) — Wikipedia
[4] [Thailand — Banking QR/Barcode Standards Report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/TH) — Barcoder corpus, 2025
[5] [Singapore — Banking QR/Barcode Standards Report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/SG) — Barcoder corpus, 2025
[6] [PayNow-PromptPay Linkage — Fact Sheet](https://abs.org.sg/docs/library/pppn-factsheet-v1-0.pdf) — Association of Banks in Singapore, 2023
[7] [Launch of Cross-border QR Payments Linkage between Indonesia and Singapore](https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/media-releases/2023/launch-of-cross-border-qr-payments-linkage-between-indonesia-and-singapore) — Monetary Authority of Singapore, 2023

[1]: https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/media-releases/2021/singapore-and-thailand-launch-worlds-first-linkage-of-real-time-payment-systems
[2]: https://www.bot.or.th/en/financial-innovation/digital-finance/digital-payment/cross-border-payment.html
[3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PromptPay
[4]: https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/TH
[5]: https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/SG
[6]: https://abs.org.sg/docs/library/pppn-factsheet-v1-0.pdf
[7]: https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/media-releases/2023/launch-of-cross-border-qr-payments-linkage-between-indonesia-and-singapore

## Deployments

Found in the following country reports (grep across `reports/countries/`):

- **TH** — [TH-thailand.md](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/TH)

## Regions / aggregations not mapped to a single country

- Thailand–Singapore