Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) is studying launching its own e-marketplace after the Bank of Thailand conducted a public hearing on the platform, says a senior official.
If commercial banks are permitted to offer e-marketplace services, they are expected to be able to expand their payment service customer base by a wide margin.
SCB, the country's second-largest bank by assets, is waiting for the central bank's regulation on e-marketplaces, said chief marketing officer Thana Thienachariya.
The bank has installed digital linkage for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) -- called BusinessLinx on its mobile app -- enabling SME operators to offer products and services, find business partners, and share experiences and knowledge for business expansion.
With the advent of digitalisation, the bank has continued to increase its clients, financial services and banking transactions.
There are around 6 million SCB Easy app users and the bank aims for 8 million by the end of this year. After the SCB Easy app was relaunched in September, new applicants for the bank's mobile banking app increased by around 10,000 per month compared with around 3,000-4,000 before the relaunch, he said.
In addition, SCB plans to expand PromptPay users to 10 million by the end of this year from the existing 6 million users.
Cash withdrawal from the bank's ATMs has continued to decline partly because of money transfer via PromptPay service. PromptPay provides consumers more convenience and security and it will help the bank to reduce operating costs in the longer term.
The bank has not found any instance of financial fraud through SCB Easy, and it will continue to strengthen digital security systems to build up consumer confidence.
There was a temporarily malfunction in PromptPay's service on the morning of Dec 31 because of technical problems, but the error was fixed and all recipients received money transfers from SCB the following day.
Moreover, the bank already paid back 5 million baht worth of fees charged to customers who were forced to transfer money through other banking channels following the PromptPay glitch.
Separately, Apiphan Charoenanusorn, the senior executive vice-president and head of operations, said the bank aims to expand the number of QR code transaction points to 1 million by the end of the year from 200,000 at this time.
The bank's QR code payment transactions reached 150,000, surpassing its target of 100,000 after the official rollout in November last year.
"We expect the banking industry will gradually move toward digital payments over the next three years, given the digital migration happening across industries," she said.
SCB shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 149.50 baht, a decrease of 50 satang, in trade worth 932 million baht.