Thanachart Bank (TBank) expects to roll out a fully integrated digital lending service in the final quarter this year, while its digital banking transactions during the first three months grew at a faster pace than expected.
The bank is waiting for implementation of electronic know-your-customer (e-KYC), e-signature, and e-consent before providing the comprehensive digital loan service, said executive vice-president of enterprise digital Tirachart Chiracharaporn.
The technologies were developed under the National Digital ID scheme, a collaboration between the government and the private sector.
TBank is offering online-to-offline digital lending for auto loans and plans to add personal loans to the platform soon, he said.
In a related development, Mr Tirachart said the ratio of financial transactions via the bank's mobile banking app, Thanachart Connect, surged to 35% of all channels at the end of March from 25% last year.
Thanachart Connect's users number 1.2 million, compared with its retail customer base of 4 million.
The bank's active mobile banking users stand at around 720,000 and it expects the figure will keep rising, he said without revealing a target.
To achieve the goal, the bank focuses on increasing the number of customers who use TBank as their main bank and digital banking users, he said.
"We're quite successful in digital banking adoption and plan to increase customer engagement by offering additional features in the next phase," said Mr Tirachart.
Commenting on the Bank of Thailand's new regulations on peer-to-peer lending business, he said they would not hurt the bank because the rules strengthen the country's ecosystem and enable people to easier access financial services.
TBank is also cooperating with Chulalongkorn University to create Thanachart Digital Biz Challenge project, targeting students.
The bank plans to adopt digital innovations of the three winning teams to Thanachart Connect. Moreover, the bank plans to join hands with partners including fintech firms to develop digital banking services.
At the end of February, TBank, the country's sixth largest lender by assets, entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding to consolidate with TMB Bank through a business transfer, with an estimated transaction value of 130-140 billion baht.
The transaction for the merger is expected to be finalised by the end of this year.
Thanachart Capital Plc (TCAP) holds a 50.96% stake in TBank and Bank of Nova Scotia makes up for the rest.
