Central Bank to use biometric technology in opening saving accounts
Siritida Panomwan, Bank of Thailand’s assistant governor for payment systems policy and financial technology group, said on Monday (October 7) that 10 commercial banks and non-bank financial institutes were participating in BoT’s regulatory sandbox project to test-run the use of biometric technology known as e-kyc (electronic know your customer) to electronically verify the identity of customers.
“However, so far none of the participants has been able to successfully complete the project due to minor issues that need to be resolved, but the BoT is positive that the participants will finish the biometric test run before the end of fourth quarter,” she said.
The assistant governor further explained that before implementing biometric technology in the real world, the central bank has to set policies, regulations and criteria to ensure a smooth and problem-free operation. “During phase 1 we will be focusing on using biometric technology to verify a customer’s identity when opening a savings account,” she said. “If the implementation is successful, banks and non-banks can adapt the technology to other aspects of their services without having to ask for BoT’s permission to enter the sandbox project again.”
Siritida added that more than dozen operators had currently applied for licenses to conduct e-payment and e-money businesses and confirmed that the services are becoming popular. “BoT has already granted licenses to some100 operators and is expecting to see more new operators in the coming years,” she said.