Banks' outstanding balance in savings accounts at the end of June jumped 14% from the end of last year, showing money continued to pour into bank deposits as they are perceived a safe haven amid economic uncertainties caused by the pandemic, despite the rock-bottom interest rates.
Bank of Ayudhya's (BAY) outstanding deposits in its savings accounts at the end of June grew by 16%, exceeding the industry pace, said Phonganant Thanattrai, head of the retail banking and distribution group.
The bank's total deposits at the end of June expanded 8% from the end of 2019.
"Deposits in savings accounts rose 4-5% over the past 3-4 years," he said.
According to Bank of Thailand data, the number of deposit accounts tallied 102 million, with total deposits of 15 trillion baht at the end of April.
Some 88 million accounts, or 86.8% of the total deposit accounts, had an outstanding balance of less than 50,000 baht, with 10% of accounts between 50,000 and 500,000 baht, and the remainder with deposits of more than 500,000 baht.
BAY alone had total deposits of 1.65 trillion baht, up from 1.56 trillion at the end of 2019.
Mr Phonganant said people are risk-averse, switching to bank deposit accounts against the backdrop of the pandemic.
"About 50% of Thais aged around 30 shoulder a debt burden and around 20% of those are defaulters," he said.
To encourage the younger generation to save more, BAY launched an application to help customers manage their savings, targeting two segments -- Gen Z, aged 10-23, who are starting to save money for specific purposes, and Gen Y, aged 23-40, who want to maintain savings for the future and look for investment opportunities.
The Kept by Krungsri app offers an attractive interest rate at 1.6% for the first year and 1.8% from the second year.
The bank targets 200,000 downloads for the app within 12 months and deposits of around 4-5 billion baht with an average 20,000 baht per account.
Year-to-date, users and transaction numbers of the bank's Krungsri mobile application have grown by 12% and 21%, respectively.
According to central bank data, as of the end of March, the number of mobile banking app users in Thailand totalled 62.8 million, up from 60 million at the end of last year, with transaction volume rising 13.8% to 593 million.
BAY shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 23.10 baht, up 30 satang, in trade worth 9.08 million baht.