Three ASEAN central banks launch new payment mechanism

BANGKOK, December 12 (TNA) - The Bank of Thailand (BOT) has already launched a new payment mechanism, together with the central banks of Indonesia and Malaysia as earlier agreed, using local currencies of the three countries to facilitate and further support their trade and investment systems. The three central banks of member countries of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) announced their official implementation of the new payment mechanism on December 11 based on two memoranda of understanding (MOUs) earlier signed on December 23, 2016 between BOT and the Indonesian central bank and between the Indonesian and the Malaysian central banks. The new payment mechanism is part of attempts of the three ASEAN central banks to promote the use of local currencies of their countries for their trade and investment, representing a major step towards the more consolidation of the financial integration among AEC members. Based on the MOUs, BOT and the central banks of Indonesia and Malaysia have jointly selected commercial banks in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia whose qualifications meet agreed requirements. The qualifications of the jointly-selected banks include having their strong capital and liquidity levels and expertise in handling international trade and investment systems, as well as having a number of branches in their own countries and having well-developed business ties and connections with commercial banks in the two other ASEAN countries. (TNA)