Banking agents rely on consumers' demand

BANGKOK, March 2 (TNA) - The Thai Bankers Association (TBA) says that the opening of banking agents particularly relies on demands of consumers in different areas. TBA Chairman Predee Daochai told journalists on March 1 that all banks in the country are carefully considering opening more banking agents at convenience stores nationwide, as recently approved by the Bank of Thailand (BOT), as they must take full responsibility for all operations and performances of their authorized banking agents. Predee, who is also President of Bangkok-based Kasikornbank (KBank), noted that consumers' demands and behaviors in different areas are a major risk factor that all banks need to take into account, along with others, including their risk management mechanism and operational costs. The TBA chairman reasoned that there are now many electronic banking services (e-services) offered by commercial banks, which are also convenient for clients, but authorized banking agents can be their additional options for financial transactions. Meanwhile, Anuchit Anuchitanukul, an executive of Bangkok-based Kiatnakin Bank, expressed his support for banking agents as they provide consumers in more areas with easy access to banking services. According to BOT statistics, people's financial transactions through banks' counters and automated teller machines (ATMs) nationwide have considerably dropped from 41 per cent in 2010 to 17 per cent currently, while those through applications on smart phones and other online channels have soared from 15 per cent to 66 per cent during the same period, motivated mostly by the government's Thailand 4.0 Policy, with those through the official PromptPay service alone reaching 400 billion baht over the past 1-2 years. (TNA)