Electronic payment systems development in Thailand

• Authors: Tanai Khiaonarong
• Venue: International Journal of Information Management: The Journal for Information Professionals
• Year: 2000

This paper examines the creation of modern electronic payment systems in Thailand. Thailand, like other major developed and emerging economies, experienced payment systems reforms in the 1990s. The country's economic expansion, which started in the late-1980s but unexpectedly ended in the late-1990s, led to the development of three major payment systems. The central bank played a leading role, in the absence of private sector initiative, in investing, developing, enhancing and managing these systems. This included the introduction of a real-time gross settlement system, which became one of the most advanced large-value funds transfer systems in the world during its launch date. The case illustrates the experiences undertaken, in the reform of rudimentary payment systems in an emerging economy context, and the lessons may be relevant for countries facing similar stages of development. Such experiences has also raised relevant issues, including the development of laws supporting electronic payments, the providing of liquidity for payment settlements, the inclusion of risk reduction measures, the reduction of cheque float through electronic data interchange, and the management of change in payment systems.