Monday 13 September 2010

New card to make Bangkok cashless

Bangkok Smartcard System (BBS) has announced a partnership with Australian smart card developer Vix ERG to develop, design and deliver a smart card that can be used for micro-payments in Bangkok’s transportation, retail, service and tourism sectors.

The card can also be used as an access card at companies and universities. Nelson Leung, Executive Director of BSS, said on 28 July that “the system will initially provide support for an integrated payments solution for the Bangkok metro and transit systems”. It will then be extended to “provide support for micro-payments in Bangkok”.

With the launch of the card, BBS is attempting to take a major step towards the creation of a cashless society in Bangkok.

“[BBS’ mission is] to direct Bangkok towards a sophisticated cashless society”, said a Spokesman for BSS. “The card system makes payments easy for transit and retail networks. When consumers have the card, it means that they have less cash and fewer cards to carry as the card can also function as an employee or student card. Coin change problems are eliminated.”


Published in the August issue of E-Finance & Payments Law & Policy, copyrights apply.