Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) is focused on strengthening the capabilities of its SCB Easy mobile banking app as it seeks to drive up income generated through its digital platform.
According to chief executive Kris Chantanotoke, the bank prioritised improving its technological infrastructure over the past few years to stabilise SCB Easy's operating system. He said these efforts significantly reduced mobile banking app failures last year.
In the Bank of Thailand's latest report on information technology (IT) system outages in the banking sector for the third quarter of 2024, SCB recorded only one instance of a mobile banking glitch, which was resolved in less than an hour.
Over the past several years, SCB Easy experienced multiple outages annually, with each lasting several hours. For instance, the app was down four times during one period, with each disruption lasting about six hours.
Mr Kris said the bank remains committed to enhancing SCB Easy's capabilities, particularly through the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). This initiative aligns with SCB's "First AI Bank" vision under its "Digital Bank with a Human Touch" strategy.
This year the bank plans to focus on expanding investment services on the app to generate higher income via the digital platform, he said.
SCB, Thailand's fourth-largest lender by total assets and a leader in mobile banking services, aims to increase its digital income to 15% of the total by the end of 2025, up from 13% in 2024, with a target to raise the ratio to 25% by 2026.
SCB Easy primarily offers transactional banking services, which are largely free. Despite strong growth in digital banking transactions over the past several years, this has not yet translated into significant income generation, said Mr Kris.
"However, the rise in digital transactions expanded the bank's database, which will support the growth of digital banking business over the long term," he said.
According to the 2024 financial statement of SCB X, the holding company of SCB, the bank plans to integrate AI across its operations in 2025, focusing on building a robust data foundation, advancing process automation, and modernising core banking systems to enhance efficiency and improve service delivery.
Mr Kris said this year SCB would continue implementing its strategy to position itself as a universal digital bank with a strong focus on wealth management.
He said the bank aims to provide seamless and integrated service across all customer channels, driving sustainable growth.
As the core business of SCB X, SCB remains the group's primary income contributor.
This year SCB X projects total loan growth of 1-3%, aligning with slower GDP growth anticipated at 2.7%.
Last year the company set a total loan growth target of 3-5%, but recorded a 1% contraction.