September 23, Mr. Somchai Lertlarpwasin, Assistant Governor of Financial Institutions Policy Group of the Bank of Thailand (BOT) revealed the number of virtual bank license applicants up to September 19.
Five applicants will be considered by the BOT based on their qualifications and potentials, as well as adequate abilities to operate a virtual bank business, in accordance with the Ministry of Finance’s notification on criteria, methods and conditions for virtual bank license issuance and application published in the Royal Gazette dated March 4, 2024.
Whereas, overall merits to the Thai economy and finance including any risks to financial stability must be taken into account prior to any further nomination before the Minister of Finance. Given so, the list of three candidates approved by the Minister to establish virtual banks can be expected in the middle of 2025 – the endorsed candidates must have their businesses commence within 1 year of approval.
Based on earlier information, the following three consortiums have had their applications confirmed:
- A business alliance comprises Krungthai Bank PCL. (SET: KTB), Advanced Info Service PCL. (SET: ADVANC) and PTT Oil and Retail Business (SET: OR);
- Sea Group, an experienced virtual bank operator in Singapore and owner of a very well-known eCommerce platform “Shopee,” comprises Bangkok Bank PCL. (SET: BBL), BTS Group Holdings PCL. (SET: BTS) with its subsidiary VGI PCL. (SET: VGI) as the signatory, Sahaphat Group, and Thailand Post; and
- Lightnet Group founded by Mr. Chatchaval Jiaravanon in collaboration with WeLab, a burgeoning virtual bank operator from Hong Kong with an entrenched clientele in Hong Kong and Indonesia, supporting over 65 million users with over 20 licenses for financial services in Asia and Europe.
Apart from the mentioned three, the following groups may also be the front-runners for the license:
- SCB X PCL. (SET: SCB) in collaboration with WeBank and Kakaobank, the latter being a banking giant from South Korea; and
- Ascend Money group, a provider of e-wallet service under the name “TrueMoney” in association with Charoen Pokphand Foods PCL. (SET: CPF), in collaboration with Ant Group, a leading fintech corporation and an affiliate of the Chinese conglomerate Alibaba.
