Payments technology company Mastercard has been working closely with related parties everywhere, including Thailand, to prepare for the future of payments in which digital currencies will be a critical choice for consumers, said Aileen Chew, country manager of Mastercard for Thailand and Myanmar.
Regarding Mastercard's vision for Thailand in terms of the future of payments, Ms Chew said that Mastercard's business starts and ends with people. People want to choose a payment method that's right for them -- and what's right might differ with each transaction.
"What doesn't change is that people want choice in how they pay, and they want every transaction to be convenient, easy to use, safe and secure," she added.
"That has been the centre of our strategy for several years now -- giving people choice in how they want to pay -- in a fast, convenient and secure way."
She added that globally Mastercard is seeing accelerating interest in digital currencies as a payment method for everyday purchases.
"We've been working closely with our customers, businesses and partners everywhere, including Thailand, to prepare for the future of payments in which digital currencies will be a critical choice for consumers," Ms Chew added.
Last year Mastercard announced a collaboration with Island Pay to deliver the world's first digital currency-linked payment card, backed by the Central Bank of The Bahamas. The collaboration will enable people in the Bahamas to use an official digital currency called 'The Bahamas Sand Dollar', to make purchases via a prepaid card.
Mastercard has also been working globally on transit payment solutions, which have been deployed in over 390 cities around the world including Singapore, London, New York, Milan and Bangkok, she said.
The Ministry of Transport launched the EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) contactless payment system on MRT Blue and Purple lines on Jan 29.
This involved a collaboration between the ministry, Mastercard, Bangkok Expressway and Metro, Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand, Krungthai Bank and other stakeholders to develop technical infrastructure to allow contactless cards to be used for payments within the Bangkok MRT network.
As a result, all Mastercard prepaid and credit cardholders can pay through "tap-and-go" at all MRT stations.
Ms Chew said Mastercard has always been focused on enabling a more connected world where everyone can have access to the best payments experience that is easy, seamless, secure and safe.
Mastercard's commitment to its mission took on a new urgency and importance as Covid-19 highlighted the need for "touch free" environments and experiences, such as tap-and-go card payments, as much as possible, she added.
