Bright prospect for money exchange business

BANGKOK, March 11 (TNA) -- The money exchange business in Thailand has grown as much as 26 per cent by the booming of the country's tourism sector, where the Japanese yen has topped the list of being the most popular currency people is exchanging for. Managing Director for Business Development at Superrich Thailand Co, Ltd, Ms Sitamanin Susamawattanakul said the value of the exchange market in 2016 had reached 420 billion baht, which is a 26 per cent growth from 2015's 330 billion baht value. She said the increase is due to the government's tourism stimulation policies, which targeted to increase tourism in the country by 10 per cent to reel in an income of 2.7 trillion baht, focusing on attracting premium tourists with high spending power to travel more to Thailand. She noted that the most popular currency at the moment is the Japanese yen, in which the exchange for this currency has grown at a rate of 200 per cent, with Taiwanese dollar increase by 120 per cent, and Hong Kong dollar hiking by 90 per cent, while the South Korean won is also seeing a rise, as higher number of Thais chose to visit these countries more. Managing Director for Superrrich Thailand's Organisation Development unit, Ms Thanatsarin Susamawattanakul, meanwhile, admitted that although the money exchange business is highly competitive, as the number of entrepreneurs in the sector has risen by 6 per cent in the past year, mostly made up of small companies in other provinces. She stressed that the highlight of her company is the best exchange rate one can find in the country, adding that the company's gross income has risen by 76 per cent, with profits hiking by 21 per cent. She said the company has also planned to expand more of its branches into shopping malls and communities, with three more centres ready for its official opening, on top of the 14 branches which already exist. At the same time, Superrich is currently studying the Fintech technology in order to adapt the technology into the company's service and operations in response to changing lifestyle and consumer behaviours in using less cash. Nonetheless, Ms Thanatsarin said most customers would like to do their money exchange transactions with living tellers more than online, as they could ask for more information from them. (TNA)