Kasikornbank (KBank), the country's third-largest commercial bank by assets, this month will seek approval from the Bank of Thailand for its banking agent service, with a focus on deposits and cash withdrawals.
Petrol stations and convenience stores are the main sites where KBank hopes to place its new banking agents, as these locations give people in remote areas better access to financial services, said president Kattiya Indaravijaya.
The banking agent service will also help KBank cut down on operating costs as they carry lower expenses than traditional branches, said Ms Kattiya.
"On average, operating costs at a full branch are around 40 baht per transaction, compared with 10 baht via banking agents," she said.
The bank is in the process of appointing the agents and submitting applications to the central bank, said Ms Kattiya.
KBank has adopted several models, with partnerships key to expanding its service points across the country.
The bank collaborated with Comm 7 Plc to recently open mini-branches at Banana IT stores. The duo plans to open other outlets and service points under the partnership model in other sectors.
Over the past three years, KBank has closed 180 brick-and-mortar outlets, with some branches being merged or relocated.
The central bank's amended banking agent rules will permit banks to appoint agents, particularly in remote areas, to offer financial services comprising money deposits, transfers, withdrawals and payments.
But loan distribution services are still not allowed through banking agents. Banking agents will be able to provide cash withdrawals of up to 5,000 baht per transaction and 20,000 baht per day per customer.
She said digital banking transactions have increased.
Transactions via other channels, including brick-and-mortar branches, ATMs and cyberbanking, have remained flat, showing customers still need such channels for banking transactions, said Ms Kattiya.
Despite closing down outlets, KBank said it has had no staff layoffs. Rather, the bank is retraining employees to meet changing consumer needs.
The bank is joining forces with SkillLane, a digital training platform startup, to revolutionise capacity building and skill development for more than 21,000 of its employees at all levels.
"The online training programme is 10 times cheaper than offline courses," said Ms Kattiya. "We set the offline training budget for this year at 400-500 million baht."
The digital training will enable employees to learn at their own pace and pick from over 400 online courses, including lifestyle-related and professional skills development.
KBANK shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 193 baht, an increase of three baht, in trade worth 1.17 billion baht.
