What Prompt Pay does

PromptPay is Thailand's national real-time payment infrastructure, operated under the oversight of the Bank of Thailand since its 2016 launch. The system enables instant 24/7 fund transfers using mobile phone numbers, national ID numbers, or QR codes, with interoperability mandated across all Thai banks and financial institutions. It has achieved universal scale with over 90 million registered accounts (exceeding Thailand's 71 million population) and processes more than 74 million transactions daily, driving Thailand to 94% digital payment adoption — the highest in ASEAN.

The platform distributes through mobile banking apps from all Thai banks and merchant QR codes, and has expanded cross-border via bilateral QR linkages with 10+ economies including Singapore, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, and Hong Kong. Cross-border inbound QR payments grew fivefold to THB 2.5 billion in 2024. Thailand's central bank also participates in the BIS Project mBridge for wholesale CBDC cross-border settlement and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's Project Ensemble for asset tokenization, positioning PromptPay within next-generation payment infrastructure development.

As public national infrastructure rather than a private commercial entity, PromptPay generates revenue through transaction fees from participating banks and potential data monetization, but is not operated for profit. Note: The firmographic metadata describes a London-based UK payment protection company founded in 2007 (promptpay.co.uk), which is inconsistent with the substantive data describing the Thai national payment system; this analysis is grounded in the substantive source material.

Name

Prompt Pay

Website

https://promptpay.co.uk

Company type

Public

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

PromptPay is Thailand's national real-time payment infrastructure operated by the Bank of Thailand, enabling instant 24/7 transfers via QR codes and mobile numbers across all Thai banks, with 90M+ registrations and 74M+ daily transactions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

National Payment Infrastructure

NAICS

Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (52232), Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320)

SIC

Finance Services (6199)

akta.pro primary industry

Bank-to-Bank Transfers & Pay-by-Bank (Consumer & Merchant) (FSAMAFAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Digital Payments & Money Movement (ACH/SEPA/FPS, Bill Pay, P2P) (FSAGAAAF), Bill Pay, Invoicing & Payables Platforms (BPAMAFAF)

Keywords

• Real-time payments
• Mobile payments
• QR code payments
• Cross-border payments
• Digital payment infrastructure

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Personnel, Operations

Revenue model

1. National Payment Infrastructure: PromptPay is a government-operated national payment infrastructure under the Bank of Thailand. As public infrastructure, it is not operated for profit but enables the digital payment ecosystem for the nation. Revenue generation mechanisms include transaction fees from participating banks and potential data monetization services.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

PromptPay is Thailand's national real-time payment infrastructure that enables instant 24/7 fund transfers using mobile phone numbers, national ID numbers, or QR codes linked to bank accounts. Operated under the oversight of the Bank of Thailand, the system provides universal interoperability across all Thai banks and financial institutions, supporting peer-to-peer transfers, merchant QR payments, government disbursements, bill payments, and cross-border payments with 10+ partner economies.

Product overview

PromptPay is Thailand's national real-time payment infrastructure operated by the Bank of Thailand. It functions as a unified digital payment platform that enables instant fund transfers via QR codes, mobile banking, and cross-border payment linkages with multiple economies including Singapore, Japan, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Hong Kong. The platform has achieved over 90 million user registrations and processes more than 74 million transactions daily, making it the dominant digital payment system in Thailand.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• PromptPay National Real-Time Payment System
• Cross-Border QR Payment Linkages

Quantifiable outcome

• Thailand leads ASEAN with 94% digital payment adoption and 75%+ annual growth in non-physical payments (2019-2024)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Singapore (Cross-border QR)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2024Bilateral QR payment linkage enabling Thai and Singapore users to make seamless cross-border payments using their respective national QR systems. This partnership facilitates tourism and trade between the two nations.
• China (Cross-border QR)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2024QR payment interoperability connecting Thai PromptPay with Chinese payment systems, enabling Chinese tourists to pay in Thailand using their home digital wallets.
• Malaysia (Cross-border QR)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2024Cross-border QR payment linkage with Malaysia facilitating instant payments between Thai and Malaysian users for commerce and tourism purposes.
• Indonesia (Cross-border QR)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2024Bilateral QR payment linkage enabling seamless cross-border transactions between Thailand and Indonesia's digital payment ecosystems.
• Vietnam (Cross-border QR)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2024QR payment interoperability between Thailand and Vietnam enabling instant cross-border payments for tourists and businesses.
• Japan (Cross-border QR)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2024Cross-border QR payment linkage with Japan enabling Japanese tourists to pay in Thailand using their domestic payment apps, driving significant inbound tourism revenue.
• Hong Kong (Cross-border QR)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2024QR payment linkage with Hong Kong plus collaboration on Project Ensemble for asset tokenization, positioning Thailand-Hong Kong fintech partnership at the frontier of digital finance innovation.
• Bank for International Settlements (Project mBridge)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Thailand, through Bank of Thailand, participates in BIS Project mBridge for wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) cross-border payments, exploring next-generation international settlement infrastructure.
• Hong Kong Monetary Authority (Project Ensemble)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Thailand-Hong Kong collaboration on Project Ensemble for asset tokenization, exploring tokenized securities and real-world asset digitalization through central bank cooperation.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• National Payments Corporation of India (UPI): India's Unified Payments Interface is the closest functional peer: a real-time, interoperable, government-backed national payment rail processing billions of monthly transactions via mobile number and QR. Both PromptPay and UPI serve as the dominant retail digital payment infrastructure in their respective countries.
• QRIS (Indonesia): Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard is the Bank Indonesia-led national QR payment standard, directly comparable to PromptPay in scale, regulatory mandate, and cross-border QR interoperability. It is one of PromptPay's bilateral cross-border partners.
• PIX (Brazil): Brazil's central-bank-operated instant payment system, achieving rapid domestic adoption comparable to PromptPay. PIX is the global benchmark for sovereign national payment rails and is structurally similar in mandate, governance, and use cases.
• PayNow Singapore: Singapore's national real-time payment system operated by the Association of Banks in Singapore, enabling instant bank-to-bank transfers via mobile numbers. It is a direct cross-border QR partner with PromptPay and serves the same use cases in a smaller market.
• DuitNow (Malaysia): Malaysia's national real-time payment rail operated by Payments Network Malaysia, offering instant transfers and QR payments similar to PromptPay. It is a bilateral cross-border partner and serves as the Malaysian equivalent in scale and structure.

Emerging players

• WeChat Pay: Tencent's mobile payment service, interoperable with PromptPay for Chinese tourist payments in Thailand. Comparable in cross-border QR use case, though it operates as a private wallet within China's broader digital payments ecosystem.
• Wise (TransferWise): Cross-border money transfer platform competing in the same space as PromptPay's cross-border QR linkages. While PromptPay focuses on QR-based retail cross-border payments, Wise addresses larger-ticket and P2P remittances, with some functional overlap.
• Alipay: China's dominant mobile payment platform and a cross-border QR partner with PromptPay. It overlaps with PromptPay for Chinese inbound tourist payments in Thailand but is a private platform with a different governance and business model.

Broad incumbents

• FedNow (US Federal Reserve): The Federal Reserve's real-time payment service is a broader-incumbent comparison: a central-bank-operated real-time payment infrastructure, though at a much earlier stage of adoption. Useful as a reference for sovereign rails in developed markets.
• Visa Direct: Visa's real-time push payments network for cross-border and domestic transfers. A broader incumbent in real-time payments, with both card-based and account-based rails that overlap with PromptPay's cross-border and domestic real-time use cases.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Prompt Pay