The Bank of Thailand plans to allow quick response (QR) payment technology tested by more than two banks to exit from the regulatory sandbox once the banks agree on mutual conditions as practical guidelines after the service is commercially rolled out.
Even though QR code payment trials, including interbank payment transactions under the Bank of Thailand's regulatory sandbox, have yielded satisfactory results, the central bank needs more time to ensure operators' readiness, said Siritida Panomwan Na Ayudhya, Bank of Thailand deputy governor for payment system policy and financial technology group.
"QR code payment systems at some banks have proven stable during testing in the regulatory sandbox. We will let them exit soon but we're still waiting on their readiness for exit conditions," she said, without providing an exact time frame.
Eight commercial and state-owned banks have QR payment technology in the Bank of Thailand's regulatory sandbox at the moment. These banks are offering trials during this period.
Ms Siritida said consumer protection is the central bank's main concern for letting QR code payment services exit the sandbox. It wants to ensure consumers can contact their banks to solve problems, she said at a seminar.
Another two conditions for exiting the sandbox are banks need to have call centre services and security systems in order to affirm the efficiency and security of the new innovative payment.
After receiving approval to exit from the regulatory sandbox, the approved banks can use QR code payment across the country, said Ms Siritida.
State-owned Government Savings Bank is among the eight banks testing QR code payment under the central bank's regulatory sandbox, while Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives plans to participate in the sandbox.
Among the eight banks, Kasikornbank (KBank) and Siam Commercial Bank were the first to enter the sandbox.
She said separately that PromptPay, part of the government's national e-payment scheme, had 35 million registrants with 171 billion baht in transaction value as of August, rising from 32 million registrants with 120 billion baht worth of transactions in July.
Predee Daochai, chairman of the Thai Bankers' Association and president at KBank, said higher demand for money transfers through PromptPay will gradually hurt fee income for banks, including KBank.
However, the technology will slash the overall industry's operating costs in the long run.
KBank, the country's fourth-largest lender by assets, is top-ranked in digital banking services with around 7 million mobile banking users, targeted to increase to 8 million by the end of this year and 10 million next year.
The bank's QR code merchant customers number around 2,000, and KBank is aiming for 200,000 and 500,000 merchants by the end of this year and 2018, respectively.
