Kasikornbank (KBank) says it will compensate an account holder in full for the money stolen through its mobile banking system after the customer staged a public protest.
KBank senior executive vice-president Adit Laixuthai said the bank would put 986,700 baht back into the savings account of Phansuthee Meeluekij, and that the bank regretted what had happened to him.
The bank took responsibility for the damage and wanted to make sure the customer had the money available for his business and family, Mr Adit said.
The auto accessories businessman in Ayutthaya lost the money in July after the mobile operator TrueMove issued a new SIM card to the suspected thief, apparently without checking his ID.
The SIM card was linked to K-Cyber Banking and the thief cleaned out Mr Phansuthee's account, leaving only 58 baht, after obtaining a new passcode from the bank with the new SIM.
Mr Phansuthee said earlier that KBank had offered to pay him only one-third of the money and advised him to get the rest back from the mobile phone company and the thief.
Unhappy with the answer, he and his family staged a sit-down protest on Rama I Road in front of the Royal Thai Police headquarters on Friday with placards criticising the bank and TrueMove for not taking responsibility for the stolen money.
The bank on Saturday reiterated that it stood by the safety of its IT system since it had not actually been hacked by the thief.
TrueMove remains silent on the issue.