Indonesian and Thai Central Banks Launch Cross-border QR Payment Linkage
Bank Indonesia and the Bank of Thailand launched a cross-border QR code-based retail payments linkage pilot between Indonesia and Thailand. Marking a key milestone in the ASEAN Payment Connectivity initiative, the full commercial phase will be launched in the first quarter of 2022. In the future, the service will be expanded to enable users in both countries to make real-time fund transfers by referencing the recipient’s mobile phone number.
Mastercard waves goodbye to the magnetic stripe on payment cards
Mastercard will be phasing out the magnetic stripe on its payment cards. They will start to disappear in newly-issued cards in Europe in 2024, while U.S. banks will no longer be required to issue chip cards with a magnetic stripe starting in 2027. By 2029, no new cards will be issued with a magnetic stripe, except for prepaid cards in the United States and Canada, and Mastercard expects that none of its credit or debit cards will have a magnetic stripe by 2033.
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