Thai central bank set to implement biometric technology for new saving account users

Source: Xinhua| 2019-10-07 15:23:57|Editor: xuxin
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BANGKOK, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Thai central bank on Monday announced that ten commercial banks and non-bank financial institutions are participating in the Bank of Thailand's (BoT) 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.

Siritida Panomwan, assistant governor for payment systems policy and financial technology group at the BoT, told the media in a press conference on Monday that implementing biometric technology is one way to ensure security for financial institutions and end-users, as e-kyc can verify the correct identity for end-users (bank customers).

However, Siritida said that currently the participants have yet to successfully complete the project due to minor technical glitches that still need to be resolved.

"Hopefully, the BoT anticipates that participants will finish the biometric test run before the end of fourth quarter," said Siritida. "The BoT still needs to roll out policies, regulations and criteria to ensure a smooth and problem-free operation before e-kyc goes into effect."

"During phase 1 we will be focusing on using biometric technology to verify a customer's identity when opening a savings account," the assistant governor said. "If the implementation is successful, banks and other financial institutions can adapt the technology to other aspects of their services without having to seek for BoT's permission to enter the sandbox project again."

Siritida said further that many financial institutions had already applied for licenses to conduct e-payment and e-money businesses.

The electronic payment versions are very popular and hassle-free and BoT has already granted licenses to some 100 operators and is expecting to see more new operators in the coming years, Siritida said.

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