New Banking Fees May Turn Thailand into a Cashless Society

According to Veerathai Santiprabhob, Bank of Thailand governor, the current bank fee structure is distorted. He noted that paper-based transactions are cheap compared to actual costs, and banks are subsidizing these costs with fees on electronic transactions. In other words, a check fee may only be Bt15, but the actual cost is far higher. Currently, customers can withdraw money from ATMs, but banks incur huge costs for managing cash at ATMs.

A new project is helping to reduce cash usage in the country through the introduction of more point-of-sale throughout Thailand. There are currently less than 100,000 points of sale, which is much lower than the 2 million recommended by the Bank of Thailand.

To maintain retail customers, banks will be expected to reach out to merchants to create their own points of sales. Smaller merchants will also be required to have mobile point-of-sale to support small customers.

Under the project, companies who are registered with the Commerce Ministry will also be prohibited from denying e-payments.

The creation of a central system that will oversee cross bank transactions through the Internet, ATM cards and debit cards will help move Thailand to a cashless society. Adoption of the Any ID e-payment model will further help the country make this transition.