Both parties will collaborate and accept international payments from South Korea to Thailand via Sentbe, which is a major South Korean payment services firm and also one of Lightnet’s business partners.

Srihanath Lamsam, Management Executive Vice President for SCB Payment Product Solutions told the media, “At present, demand for international payments, especially outgoing and incoming remittances, has [been growing.]  Banks have continuously embraced cutting-edge technology as a core for developing new capabilities for financial products and services. These efforts also include expanding business partners at both the global and regional levels to increase capabilities and scopes of services, while ensuring that all customer groups, both Thai and foreign, have full access to financial services.”

Recently, Lightnet Lightnet closed a $31.2 million Series A investment round led by investors such as UOB Venture Management, Seven Bank, Uni-President Asset Holding, Hashkey Capital, Hopeshine Ventures, Signum Capital, DU Capital, and Hanwha Investment and Security.

Tridbodi Arunanondchai, Lightnet Group Vice Chairman and Group CEO told the media,“Our goal is to serve as a new payment center for efficient, secure, low-cost, and speedy financial services, taking advantage of [Stellar’s] blockchain technology…. The system is an effective innovation for decentralised data storage centers that will transform digital payment models in the future.”

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Khun Kidakarn Chudsuwan, Head of Mutual Funds Products, said: “Receiving this prestigious award, being recognized as the “Most Innovative Investment Management Bank in the Thai Market“ by International Finance, reflects our continued competitive presence in the investment management sector in Thailand.”

TMB Bank strives to encourage the locals to start investing early by easing the banking process. Currently, only 2.6 percent of the Thai’s workforce is expected to have enough savings after retirement. The bank challenges the sector norm by catering to retail customers in the country, where discretionary portfolio management was previously available for high-net worth individuals with over ฿10 million. 

Using TSP, TMB is the first Thai bank to offer total solution investment portfolio management to savers with just ฿100,000. Previously, these savers have never had access to professional portfolio management. 

TSP is built on three pillars — asset allocation, best-in-class fund selection and portfolio monetary. For asset allocation, the bank offers five portfolio models with varying risk levels, from pure fixed income portfolios to pure equity portfolio. The client portfolio is closely monitored to capture market opportunity and carry out risk control.

To date, more than 5,000 customers have signed up for TSP — and the bank has managed to gather over ฿10 billion in assets under management. “As TSP has been well received by customers, we aim to introduce additional features to encourage Thais to start investing and make investing easy,” Khun Kidakarn Chudsuwan, Head of Mutual Funds Products said. “Eventually, TSP helps fulfill our goal in ensuring more Thais have enough savings for their retirement.”

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Under the new partnership, SCB will allow customers to open a non-passbook savings bank account at 7-Eleven’s Counter Service using facial recognition technology. The facial recognition technology will be used to verify the customers’ identification.

The new service is expected to bring aboard more than a million customers this year, the media reported. Also, SCB’s partnership with Counter Service will make the latter a leading banking agent in the country. 

It requires customers to insert their ID card in the Electronic Data Capture (EDC) device at the 7-Eleven stores to open an account. After that, they are expected to take a photo using facial recognition, enter their telephone number, enter an auto-generated PIN at EDC and confirm. 

The new service will enable the bank to drive other financial offerings such as  SCB Easy, credit & debit cards, Planet SCB cards, loans and investments. 

SCB President Mrs. Apiphan Charoenanusorn told the media that, “This Digital Financial Partnership with Counter Service will extend the success of the Banking Agent service launched last year. This collaborative effort will help enhance the capabilities of our two firms in offering new banking service formats for customers, starting with simple cash deposit and withdrawal via Counter Service.” 

Besides SCB, other banks in the country including Kasikornbank, Bangkok Bank, Bank of Ayudhya, TMB Bank and CIMB Thai Bank carry out electronic Know-Your-Customer (eKYC) with facial biometrics, the media reported. 

The post Siam Commercial Bank uses facial recognition to open accounts at 7-Eleven appeared first on International Finance.

Siam Commercial Bank is Thailand’s third biggest lender by assets. The bank foresees potential in one of its fintech units to become a unicorn, or a private company with a valuation of $1 billion. The main reason for the spin off is to allow the unit to become more independent, including raising funds from other investors. 

Siam Commercial Co-President Orapong Thien-Ngern, told Bloomberg Quint, “Thai banking like most other countries is a sunsetting industry, as existing lenders and new players are competing for limited pools of customers. Venture capital and technology investments will be the key survival strategies for SCB in attracting new customers and boosting earnings.” 

In recent times, Siam Commercial Bank and other Thai lenders have been investing in technology to beat fintech startup competition. The management seeks to transform the bank into a technology company.

Thien-Ngern firmly believes that venture capital and technology investments are important strategies vital to the bank’s development. 

Siam Commercial Bank has closed a four year capital spending programme worth $1.3 billion. The programme is focused on artificial intelligence, digital platforms and other technology. 

The banks shows tremendous potential to become Thailand’s leading player in digital technology. Earlier this month, the bank established strategic partnership with Liquid Group to enable cross-border QR payment acceptance in Singapore and Thailand. 

The post Siam Commercial plans fintech spin off to become digital leader appeared first on International Finance.

According to Pimolpa Suntichok, Deutsche Bank’s newly appointed chief country officer for Thailand, the bank wants to attract domestic corporations that are willing to expand in foreign markets or invest overseas.

Pimolpa Suntichok told the media that, “Increasingly we are seeing more European clients looking to set up supply chains in Thailand, particularly in the automotive industry, and trade finance is benefiting from this. We are also seeing Thai clients with offshore operations wanting more local day-to-day support to improve the efficiency of working capital.”

She added, “If you look at the top 10 conglomerates here, they are very large and going outside to expand revenue bases, get more recurring revenue and increase diversity in revenue bases. Our strategy is to expand more among local corporations, as Thai corporates are strong and are acquiring businesses outside of Thailand.”

According to reports, around 70 percent of Deutsche Bank’s clients in Thailand are foreign multinationals.
Reportedly, Deutsche Bank’s European clients are also interested in investing in development projects in Thailand such as high-speed rail projects.

Recently, Deutsche Bank also came under major scrutiny as it was alleged that the bank hired more than 100 under-qualified relatives of China’s political elite to expand its business in the country.

Earlier this month, it was reported that the bank is looking to cut around 18, 000 jobs globally with half of them in its home market in Germany.

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With the merger, Thanachart Bank will have total assets valued at 1.9 trillion baht in addition to 10 retail million customers. Reports said that the bank will become the sixth-largest lender in Thailand. 

Prior to this, a major acquisition took place when Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group bought Bank of Ayudha in 2013. TMB Bank CEO Piti Tantakasem told reporters at a news conference “The integration will furnish the new bank with enhanced capability to develop better products and services in the digital age.” 

Under the terms of the agreement, all shares of Thanachart Bank’s subsidiary Thanachart Broker and 75 percent of Thanachart Fund will be transferred to TMB Bank. The buying price of Thanachart Bank’s shares will be settled in cash or a cash equivalent, TMB Bank said. 

The merger talks have been taking place since last year. TMB Bank said that a non-binding agreement has been signed for the merger. According to central bank data, Thanachart Bank assets totalled $32.3 billion as of June — and TMB Bank  assets were valued at TB896 billion. 

Thailand’s government is focusing on encouraging small and medium size lenders to merge in order to gain a competitive advantage. The Thanachart Bank TMB Bank merger is anticipated to encourage more acquisitions and financial mergers across the country. 

Both banks said that the merger will produce an extensive customer base and strengthen their position in the market. In addition, it will ensure a ‘larger investment pool’ in order to deal with the rising competition. 

TMB Bank has 408 branches while Thanachart Bank has 498 in Thailand. The banks plans to consolidate branches with close proximity in an effort to cut costs. However, they have no plans to carry out layoffs. 

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