Customers will no longer need to travel to the bank to open a savings account, as a mobile feature that uses facial recognition technology will allow Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) to verify their identity online.
SCB is the first bank to offer the new feature -- opening a new bank account through electronic Know Your Customer (e-KYC) measures -- with biometric technology.
Later this month the bank plans to have a soft launch of the feature on its SCB Easy mobile app, said Tana Pothikamjorn, first senior vice-president for digital banking.
The move is part of its digital banking strategy under its "banks as a platform" vision.
Mr Tana said the new feature will attract other banks' customers and is in line with the government's National Digital ID policy, which is scheduled to begin by year-end.
The new feature is still in the Bank of Thailand's regulatory sandbox, with limited deposits of up to 100,000 baht. The feature is expected to pass the sandbox phase by the fourth quarter.
The feature requires Android smartphones to have operating systems of 5.1 or above that support near-field communication. Users need to have a passport and national ID for online registration.
New users have to download the SCB Easy app and fill in their details, scan their national ID and passport and then touch the passport with their smartphones.
The passport is used for facial data. Users then need to take three pictures of their face, including when they smile and blink, to certify they are a real person.
Mr Tana said the e-KYC process takes 5-10 minutes, and is intended to cut the risk of identity fraud.
E-KYC entails a false positive rate of 0.01%.
By August, users will be able to request that ATM cards be delivered to their homes via the app.
E-KYC will gain momentum over the next 1-2 years, said Mr Tana.
As of June, SCB Easy had 7 million users, with the bank targeting 10 million by year-end and 14 million SCB customers in total.
SCB Easy transactions were introduced in 2012 and relaunched in August 2017.