ME by TMB, the digital banking do-it-yourself platform of TMB Bank, aims to boast 40,000 accounts for its new deposit products by year-end.
Benjarong: No rate rise in the offing
ME Move is a digital banking product that automatically transfers deposit balances into ME Save accounts, which offer interest rates of 4.5 times regular savings accounts, said Benjarong Suwankiri, head of the ME scheme.
ME Move account holders can set the outstanding deposit balance by themselves, and the leftover amount will be transferred to ME Save accounts, he said.
Account holders can also set the frequency of money transfers to receive better returns in ME Save.
Those interested in using the zero-interest ME Move service are required to open ME Save accounts.
To accommodate money transfers for the two accounts, ME by TMB has adopted Balance Sweep technology, under which the fund transfer service fee is waived, said Mr Benjarong.
ME Save now yields a 1.7% interest rate per year for depositors.
On average, regular savings accounts offer interest rates in a range of 0.3 to 0.5% per year to depositors, he said.
Mr Benjarong said ME Move accounts are eyed to reach 40,000 by the end of this year after 9,000 accounts were opened after the product was rolled out three weeks ago.
TMB plans to extend product features to bill payments, money top-ups and contactless card services by this year.
"We have no plans to raise the interest rate of ME Save yet, though the upward interest rate trend is looming. But we will keep this feature of the product -- a higher interest rate offering than other general savings accounts in the market," he said.
There are 330,000 ME Save accounts, a figure the company aims to raise to 360,000 by year-end.
Half of the total ME customer base comes from TMB's clients, and the other half is new customers, he said.
Mingkwan Pattanawong, head of retail marketing, said that 29,000 new ME Save accounts have been opened this year, representing 48% of this year's new account target.
She said 72% of ME Save account holders live in Greater Bangkok.