BoT Governor Calls for Global Guardrails as AI and Fraud Reshape Finance

 

Governor Vitai Ratanakorn tells G30 seminar in Bangkok that AI and instant payments widen access but let fraud spread faster, urging cross-border action.

 

Central bankers and financial regulators must urgently balance the transformational potential of artificial intelligence and digital innovation with robust safeguards against fast-evolving cyber threats and global digital fraud, Bank of Thailand (BoT) Governor Vitai Ratanakorn warned on Saturday (October 17).

 

Delivering the opening address at the Group of Thirty's (G30) 41st Annual International Banking Seminar in Bangkok, Mr Vitai emphasised that while digital finance has expanded financial inclusion to historic levels, technology is also accelerating systemic vulnerabilities across international borders.

 

The seminar, titled "Balancing Innovation and Stability in Modern Digital Finance", is hosted by the BoT as part of the 2026 IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings. It is an invitation-only event, but on the record, with the press attending.

 

A panel discussion moderated by Pablo Hernández de Cos, general manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), followed the governor's remarks.

 

 

Access is growing, and so are the opportunities

Vitai began with the promise of digital finance. Nearly eight in ten adults worldwide now hold a financial account, he said, up from around half in 2011, with mobile phones driving much of that progress.

 

The next wave of innovation, particularly AI, could go well beyond making existing services faster or cheaper, he said. It could raise productivity by automating complex tasks, improving decisions and enabling new products and business models.

 

 

 

It could also help lenders assess credit more accurately, including for people with limited credit histories, and so channel funds towards productive parts of the economy.

 

Combined with tokenisation, the digital representation of financial assets, AI could automate financial processes and make cross-border payments and securities settlement more efficient.

 

 

PromptPay: a decade of change

The governor pointed to Thailand's own digital payment infrastructure as the foundation for such advances. The country launched its instant payment system, PromptPay, ten years ago.

 

It now has more than 83 million registered users, he said. In 2025, transfers through the system reached 54 trillion baht, more than twice the size of Thailand's gross domestic product.

 

Transfers of up to 2 million baht are free of charge. PromptPay, he said, has extended digital financial services to people in the remotest areas and to small merchants, transforming retail payments.

 

The flip side: speed, scale and fraud The same features that make digital finance attractive also create new dangers, Vitai warned.

 

"Greater speed, scale and connectivity enable fraud to spread faster," he said, while cyber and operational disruptions can affect several institutions and jurisdictions at once.

 

He said there had been a surge in both fraud and cyber incidents in the financial sector over the past decade. AI and tokenisation also bring risks, "some old, some new", to the soundness of money and finance, he added.

 

"Our responsibility as regulator is to enable innovation while putting in place safeguards that protect consumers, preserve inclusion and maintain financial stability and public trust," he said.

 

 

 

Digital fraud, he said, is the most acute problem Thailand currently faces. It is spreading rapidly, generating huge losses, and is a global phenomenon.

 

Because fraudsters operate across borders, national measures alone will not work: unless countries act together, criminal activity will simply move to wherever the system is weakest.

 

 

A framework for responsible innovation

To balance the two goals, the BoT follows a responsible innovation framework built on three pillars: smart technology, smart governance and sound economics. The pillars reinforce one another, the governor explained.

 

Good governance ensures technology is not abused and gives businesses the clarity they need to invest. Common standards prevent fragmentation, creating stronger network effects and commercial opportunities.

 

Profitable enterprises, in turn, support investment in new technology and better services. The aim, he said, is financial services that are safe, inclusive and resilient.

 

 

The Bangkok Blueprint

Vitai also highlighted the Bangkok Blueprint for Resilient Financial Services, launched a few days earlier by the IMF and the World Bank in partnership with the BoT.

 

He thanked IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva for her strong support and colleagues at both institutions for turning a shared ambition into a practical framework.

 

The blueprint sets out 12 key considerations across five pillars: prevention, detection, response, information sharing and accountability. It is designed as a reference that countries can adapt to their own circumstances while promoting greater consistency and cooperation across borders.

 

Clear responsibilities, effective information sharing and appropriate incentives, Vitai said, can support coordinated implementation at scale. He acknowledged that putting this into practice "is not straightforward", especially as technologies, business models and risks continue to evolve.