Vietnam Joins ASEAN's Connected Payment System

Vietnam joins Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines in regional payments cooperation. Now, citizens of each country can pay in other countries using their home country's payment system.

The following article was translated using both Microsoft Azure Open AI and Google Translation AI. The original article can be found in Vietnam Ikut Gabung Sistem Pembayaran Terkoneksi ASEAN

BENEDIKTUS KRISNA YOGATAMA

Signing of a memorandum of understanding on connected regional payment systems (regional payment connectivity/RPC) as part of a series of events for the ASEAN Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting (AFMGM) ) 2nd, Jakarta, Friday (25/8/2023). Present on the occasion were Deputy Governor of Central Bank ng Pilipinas Francisco G Dakila, Deputy Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore Sing Chiong Leong, Governor of Bank Indonesia Perry Warjiyo, Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia Rasheed Ghaffour, Deputy Governor of Bank of Thailand Ronadol Numnonda, Deputy Governor of State Bank of Vietnam Thanh Ha Pham (left to right).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Vietnam officially joined the Southeast Asian cross-border regional payment cooperation following five other countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines. Thus, citizens of each country can make payments in other countries using the payment system from their country of origin.

This was officially marked by the signing of a connected regional payment system memorandum of understanding (MOU) (regional payment connectivity/RPC) as part of a series of Ministerial Meeting events - Minister of Finance and Governor of the Central Bank of Southeast Asian Countries (ASEAN Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting/AFMGM), Jakarta, Friday (25/8/2023).

Present on the occasion were the Governor of Bank Indonesia Perry Warjiyo, Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Thanh Ha Pham, Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia Rasheed Ghaffour , Deputy Governor of Bank of Thailand Ronadol Numnonda, Deputy Governor of Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas Francisco G Dakila, and Deputy Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore Sing Chiong Leong.

Perry explained that this collaboration is for creating a fast, easy, affordable, transparent, and cross-border payment system service. "This is a big leap for the ASEAN region. Because we are all one big family and interconnected to each other," said Perry.

Citizens of each country can make payments in other countries using their home country's payment system.

Deputy Governor of State Bank of Vietnam, Thanh Ha Pham, added that with the advancement of technology and the increasing mobility of ASEAN citizens, it is necessary to develop a payment system cooperation that facilitates payment settlement. This cooperation is expected to increase tourism traffic and economic cooperation between the two countries.

"I believe this cooperation provides equal benefits for all involved countries. It creates an easy, affordable, and reliable payment system that can drive economic growth," said Ha Pham.

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

Visitors use QRIS to transact at the Indonesian Creative Works exhibition at the Jakarta Convention Center, Senayan, Jakarta, on Thursday (27/7/203). The event, which features 300 SMEs from all over Indonesia, will run until Sunday (30/7/2023).

Both Perry and Ha Pham explained that in the future, they hope that other ASEAN countries such as Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, and Laos will also join the RPC cooperation.

"ASEAN is a big family. A connectivity. The epicenter of world economic growth," said Perry.

LCT Collaboration

At the same occasion, the signing of the Local Currency Transaction (LCT) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was also carried out between BI, Bank Negara Malaysia, and the Bank of Thailand. The signing was conducted by Perry together with Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia, Rasheed Ghaffour. Meanwhile, Governor of the Bank of Thailand, Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput, signed separately and was broadcasted online.

Perry explained that previously BI, together with Bank Negara Malaysia and Bank of Thailand, had established a Local Currency Settlement (LCS) cooperation. Now, this cooperation has been elevated to LCT.

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO (TOK)

Employees of a foreign currency exchange company at ITC Kuningan, South Jakarta, are counting and examining the condition of US dollar bills on Monday (8/7/2023). Based on the Jakarta Interbank Spot Dollar Rate (Jisdor), the exchange rate for the rupiah is Rp 15,178 per US dollar.

Perry continued, the previous LCS collaboration included local currency payments for trade and investment transactions in each country. In addition, it also involved payments using local currency through each country's payment system.

Now, through LCT, cooperation is also enhanced for the payment of financial market transactions with local currencies of each country. Financial market transactions include the purchase of government bonds (SBN) and various other financial asset instruments in the financial market.

Rasheed stated that this increased cooperation is expected to strengthen the local currencies of each country. Transactions which have thus far been settled in US dollars for financial market transactions can now be settled using local currencies.

"The hope is to reduce the dependence on the US dollar currency to maintain the stability of each country's currency exchange rate," said Rasheed.

Citing BI data, from the beginning of this year until July, the value of LCT transactions has reduced the use of the US dollar equivalent to 3.7 billion US dollars. This comes from LCT Indonesia's collaborations with Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, and China.

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