Gamified Banking in Thailand Driving Clients Inflows

Gamification within Thai banking has proven to be a hit for fintech firm Meniga, which has seen the concept flourish enough to drive clients to top up savings to increase their «level».

Meniga is focused on developing white-labeled digital user experiences focused on leveraging the power of analytics and transaction data.

According to Meniga’s APAC head of sales, Kanika Mittal, it had partnered with a Thai financier to power an app that gamified deposits by «leveling up» customers as they saved more in a way akin to popular games like Age of Empire, where users build and upgrade their civilizations.

When they begin, they are on level one. As they save more they can build a village before upgrading to a town, city and super city, Mittal explained. «The app has a total of 74 levels and it has proven so popular that customers called to increase the savings limit per day to advance.

A key prerequisite for unlocking the value of transaction data for individual customers is aggregation. While the technology undoubtedly exists, an ecosystem needs to be formed and, in particular, regulations need to be in place to drive industry growth and form trust in the market.

It is critical to provide consumers and market players a sense of security and safety when such personal data is being shared across banks,» she explained. «That is why regulations play a key role. If it is an organic market for open banking, there will always be hesitation for open banking that is not backed by a regulatory authority.

Meniga was founded in Iceland within the ruins of the financial crisis when the nation had already seen the worst with three of the top four banks having collapsed. Out of all this chaos, the firm sought to raise awareness about how to manage finances better, not only due to the evident demand for such insights or expertise, but also because «it is the socially responsible thing to do,» Mittal said.

Proof of its commitment to the value of social responsibility, the firm recently partnered with UN Climate Change to provide customers with data and insights about their impact to the environment. The partnership developed methods to calculate the carbon footprint of users entirely based on their transaction data and the type of products and services consumed.

Such developments are win-win scenarios,» she added. «That is part of the fabric of this company, based on our roots, and we believe in it.