As Thailand accelerates its ambitions to become a regional logistics, manufacturing and clean energy hub, a quieter transformation is unfolding beneath the surface of Southeast Asia’s financial system.
Across the Mekong region, a large share of cross-border commerce no longer moves primarily through traditional bank-to-bank SWIFT transfers. Instead, businesses, traders and migrant workers increasingly rely on currency exchange operators, pooled settlement arrangements and regional payment networks that have evolved alongside the realities of ASEAN trade.
