Siam Commercial Bank PCL : Mae Manee Money Solution ready to serve Chinese tourists through WeChat Pay

To forge ahead with a plan to expand e-payment and support Thailand's transition to a cashless society, Siam Commercial Bank has made its application SCB EASY PAY - Mae Manee Money Solution ready to serve over 10 million Chinese tourists in Thailand using QR codes of giant mobile payments app WeChat Pay.

WeChat Pay is one of the world's major e-payment service providers serving more than 800 million users. It has been developed from the multi-media and social media app on smartphones into the giant mobile payments app providing product and service payments through the QR code. The enhanced payment service through WeChat Pay will help build QR code payment service recognition among merchants and users in Thailand. More importantly, it will enable SCB to get more than 700,000 QR code sign-ups as targeted by the end of next year.

SCB Senior Executive Vice President and Head of Operations, Retail Products and Retail Payments, Mrs. Aphiphan Charoenanusorn, said the bank began the 'SCB EASY PAY - Mae Manee Money Solution' campaign in November to build the perception, recognition, and popularity of the SCB EASY PAY QR Code among target users. A winsome 'Mae Manee' character created as a digital-generation 'nang kwak', based on the belief of many merchants that she will beckon customers. Mae Manee is used to build merchant and client awareness under the 'Mae Manee Loves You All, Serve All Banks, and Love All Nations' concept, with the SCB QR code boosting spending via mobile applications for banks and merchants of any nationality, who will play an instrumental role in Thailand over the next few years.

'Merchants are familiar with mobile payment app WeChat Pay, particularly in the three main tourist destinations of Bangkok, Phuket, and Chiang Mai, where more than 10 million Chinese tourists visit each year. The SCB's enhanced payment service through the WeChat Pay QR code together with the purchasing power of Chinese tourists will help significantly boost recognition and spur spending through QR codes, supporting Thailand's transition into a full-grown cashless society,' she said.

The Ministry of Tourism and Sports revealed the number of foreign tourists visiting Thailand in October totaled 2.7 million, up 21% year-on-year, with Chinese tourists making up the largest portion of visitors. Realizing the importance of this trend, SCB introduced its 'SCB EASY PAY - Mae Manee Money Solution' service through which payments can be made using WeChat Pay for the convenience of clients. WeChat Pay is another key payment service provider in Thailand's economic system because Chinese tourists prefer to use the application for buying products. Simultaneously, more merchants in Thailand have adopted the e-payment system, boosting SCB's determination to encourage merchants to receive payments by QR code for the sake of trade opportunities. With its cooperation with WeChat Pay, SCB is confident it will manage to increase the number of its QR code service users to 200,000 this year, and raise the number of sign-ups by 500,000 to 700,000 as targeted by the end of 2018.