KUALA LUMPUR (March 8): CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and GHL Systems Bhd have teamed up to provide card payment services for CIMB's corporate clients in Thailand's retail and services segments. The joint effort will be undertaken through their Thai subsidiaries, CIMB Thai Bank Ltd Bhd and GHL (Thailand) Co Ltd. "It will enable CIMB Thai's merchants to accept credit card payment services at their premises and online transactions with GHL being the exclusive partner to service and manage these merchants," GHL said in a statement today. GHL said there is an estimated 400,000 electronic data capture (EDC) and point of sale (POS) terminals servicing 22 million credit cards and 48 million debit cards issued in Thailand. Both GHL and CIMB Thai aim to sign up more merchants to provide alternative payment solutions rather than traditional cash payments. It falls in line with Bank of Thailand's set target of two million new acceptance points to encourage the move from cash to electronic payments. CIMB Thai president and chief executive officer Kittiphun Anutarasoti said the partnership allows the bank to offer a complete and comprehensive cash management solution to expand its customer base. He added that it would promote a cashless society through an alternative payment solution and reduce operation overheads for small-medium enterprises and large corporate clients. GHL group chief executive officer Danny Leong said the deal enables the company to leverage on its strengths and advantages. "Thailand, like most of Asean, has an enormous small merchant segment and high street retail stores outside Bangkok that remain untapped for payments," Leong added. CIMB's share price closed down eight sen or 1.47% at RM5.37, valuing the group at RM47.6 billion, while GHL dipped one sen or 0.91% to close at RM1.09 for a market capitalisation of RM712.1 million.
The Thai subsidiaries of lender CIMB and payment solutions provider GHL Systems partnered to provide card payment services for CIMB's corporate clients in Thailand's retail and services segment. GHL will become the only partner to service and manage the credit card payments of CIMB's Thai merchants, both on-premise and online. The companies intend to provide more merchants with alternative payments, in line with the Bank of Thailand's initiative to encourage the transition from cash to electronic payments by adding two million new acceptance points. CIMB, a leading financial institution in Thailand, has been working closely with its local partners on this initiative.