American Express Has a Strong Moat but Visa and Mastercard's Duopoly May Be Wider

Suppajee Suthamphan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce, disclosed the outcome of talks with the Ambassador of the Republic of India to Thailand, Puneet Agrawal, that Thailand and India will advance cooperation in a "Co-Creation Co-Investment" format across six potential sectors: herbs and pharmaceuticals, IT, processed food, green industry, automotive, construction, and the hospitality industry, in order to link into global supply chains rather than merely exporting goods to each other's markets. Both sides assigned the start of joint work and progress within 45 days to pilot a model. Most recently, five to six Thai investors have shown interest in cooperating with India under this concept, and the Indian Ambassador reported that Indian companies are preparing to invest in data centers in Thailand, with several already in joint ventures with Thai companies. Both sides agreed to use the JTC platform as a mechanism to monitor cooperation, with India proposing that the JTC meeting draw up a Plan of Action for the services sector. The two sides are in the process of linking India's UPI payment system with Thailand's PromptPay, and are discussing the possibility of using local currencies, the baht and the rupee, to facilitate trade and reduce costs. India is Thailand's seventh-largest trading partner in the world and its number one trading partner in South Asia. Over the seven months from January to July 2026, trade between Thailand and India was worth 13.97456 billion US dollars, expanding 8.07 percent from the same period the previous year, with Thailand exporting 10.27032 billion US dollars to India and importing 3.70424 billion US dollars from India.

Partior, which operates a blockchain-based payment network, announced on the 17th a partnership with LSEG DiSH, the settlement infrastructure arm of London Stock Exchange Group, to bring always-on settlement bank liquidity to international remittance networks. Partior is a blockchain-based interbank clearing and settlement network jointly founded in 2021 by JPMorgan, DBS Bank, and Temasek, with JPMorgan participating as one of its founding shareholders. Under the new framework, the two sides are developing a Multi Settlement Bank solution that combines LSEG DiSH's omnibus trust account with Partior's multi-currency clearing and settlement network, enabling 24/7 liquidity movement among multiple settlement banks. The aim is to reduce the need to pre-fund nostro and vostro accounts and to lessen reliance on remittance cut-off times. Partior, LSEG, and participating banks are currently conducting cross-industry testing and are preparing for a production launch in the first quarter of 2027 and for accepting additional settlement banks into the framework. Founding shareholder Standard Chartered and participating banks such as Deutsche Bank have also expressed their participation in the framework, with an eye toward future feature expansions such as intraday foreign exchange trading and securities settlement.