TMBThanachart Bank (ttb) aims to become a top three provider of mobile banking services in 3-5 years thanks to a larger customer base for the merged bank and ongoing development of its digital platform.
The bank was created through the amalgamation of the former TMB Bank and Thanachart Bank in 2020. The bank has around 10 million customers, of which more than 4 million are users of its mobile banking platform "ttb touch", said chief executive Piti Tantakasem.
He acknowledged it will be a challenge to turn ttb touch into a top three digital banking platform.
The bank plans to capitalise on its expertise in auto loans to provide a full range of financial services to clients on the digital platform.
For example, ttb expects to bank on its core auto loan business to increase both users and financial transactions on the mobile banking platform.
Mr Piti said the bank will continue to grow the digital banking service and upgrade it to the same level of the industry's three largest digital banking players: Kasikornbank, Krungthai Bank and Siam Commercial Bank.
"We don't want to acquire customers of other banks, but we need to develop core products or services to retain existing clients and woo new ones to use ttb touch," he said.
"Pricing is also a growing strategy for ttb touch as a newcomer in the industry."
After the bank launched a new version of ttb touch in the second quarter of 2022, users increased by 46% and financial transactions rose by 25%.
Although ttb touch suffered a digital glitch for around two days last September, the bank improved the digital infrastructure and ensured the mobile banking platform was ready to respond to higher demand, said Mr Piti.
Users largely conduct basic financial transactions on ttb touch, comprising more than 80% of total transactions.
The rest of the transactions on the platform are financial services such as mutual fund account openings, financial statement requests, or loan approval inquiries.
He said the bank is not interested in applying for the Bank of Thailand's upcoming virtual bank licence because the bank has a clear intention of developing ttb touch as a digital banking platform.
