Trends of Virtual Banks in Thailand

Abstract

Nowadays, the numbers of Internet users and mobile phone users in Thailand have increased to over 27.7 million and 97.7 million, respectively. Consequently, many Thai banks have changed by extending their services to perform on mobile devices, which has impacted bank transactions significantly. Moreover, most services have been developed to become more effective and reliable. For example, money transfers can be automatically scheduled in advance, cash can be transferred from anyone to another person without a bank account, or a customer can contact an expert bank officer via video call. These advantages led to the initiation of virtual banks in Thailand, where customers can get more benefits compared to the traditional bank business. For instance, customers can spend less time traveling, banks can reduce expenses on rent, employment costs, and facilities. The positive aspects of virtual banks accord with the payment system roadmap of the bank of Thailand, and also the government policy on the digital economy. This article presents a comparison of the commercial banks in Thailand, strategy of payment systems development, the transactions of virtual banks, and the direction of virtual bank improvement.