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KBank eyes banking fees from mid-income earners

KBank eyes banking fees from mid-income earners

Kasikornbank (KBank) president Kattiya Indaravijaya said this week that the bank expects revenues from banking fees in 2020 to be in the range of minus 5-17 per cent due to customers’ preference for digital transactions and the new Thai Financial Reporting Standards (TFRS 9), which will be enforced on January 1. “However, we are confident that these revenues can still become positive due to the restructuring of the bank’s policy to focus on mid-income earners or those with monthly salaries of Bt15,000,” she said. “Currently the bank's client bases in insurance and fund selling businesses, which yield the most fees, are mostly comprised of high-income earners.”
Kattiya further explained that KBank is starting to release investment products that can be bought online at a starting price as low as Bt1, as well as insurance products that are tailored for lower and mid-level clients. “This strategy is expected to help increase the bank’s revenue from fees in the next 2-3 years,” she added.
As for the Bank of Thailand’s policy to control banking fees, Kattiya said it should not pose a problem to Kasikorn Bank’s operations. “We already collect fees at reasonable rates especially from SME clients. If BoT orders us to clarify the fee rates, we are happy to comply with full disclosure.”
Kattiya also added that recently KBank has cooperated with Chulalongkorn University and National Electronic and Computer Technology Centre (NECTEC) to develop natural language processing technology for the Thai NLP program. “The program allows computers to understand texts that customers enter into systems, and answer their questions via chatbot on social media with accuracy and speed, which should ultimately bring down the bank’s operational costs,” she said.

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