• Thailand’s Siam Commercial Bank plans to introduce a Ripple based app for tourists, which will eliminate the need to exchange local currency.
• Thailand’s largest bank is also considering extending the use of RippleNet to other markets.

Ripple has shared an update of its longtime partner, the Thai Siam Commercial Bank, via a blog post. The bank is the largest one in Thailand in terms of cash flow and has 1,000 branches throughout the country. The bank serves a wide range of clients, from private individuals to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and corporations, and has been at the forefront of digital banking in the country for the past decade.

Thereby, RippleNet is playing a decisive role. Siam Commercial Bank has developed the mobile application “SCB Easy” based on Ripple‘s technology. As Arthit Sriumporn, senior vice president for commercial banking, explained, before the app was available, customers of the bank who wanted to send money to their family and friends outside Thailand had to go to a branch of the bank, fill out many forms and then wait up to five days for the money to arrive. In addition, there was no certainty as to when it would reach the recipient.

With the RippleNet based app, the process was simplified and optimized, according to Sriumporn:

We created SCB Easy, an app that runs on Ripple and allows our customers to send money to family and friends abroad from their phones. Transfers happen in real-time but are still cheaper than the five-day process. We’ve used RippleNet to connect to banking partners around the world, which helped us open up more corridors and serve more customers quickly and easily.

Thailand is an ideal location for the deployment of Ripple’s technologies, as the country is home to 4.9 million migrant workers from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and other countries in Southeast Asia, according to recent estimates. The total remittance market in the region is estimated at US$68 billion.

Siam and Ripple develop an app for tourists

As Sriumporn further elaborated in the video published by Ripple, Siam Commercial Bank is planning a new application for tourists. With more than 38 million visitors in 2018, Thailand is the most popular tourist destination in Southeast Asia. The bank is now targeting this growing market with an app that allows tourists to pay for goods and services without having to change currencies. Sriumporn spoke about how the app works:

We’re working on a QR code-based app that enables tourists to use their home country mobile app for Thailand’s QR code payment. Tourists simply scan the QR code to pay for something instantly without dealing with exchange rates or having to carry around large amounts of local currency. It’s something new in the market that will change the tourism landscape and make lives better.

Sriumporn also explained that the bank is looking to extend its use of the RippleNet to other markets and to small business and corporate customers. You can watch the interview below.

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