Bangkok--26 Sep--Siam Commercial Bank
To strengthen its leadership in providing needed services to all types of customers in Thailand, Siam Commercial Bank has joined with FamilyMart to offer a comprehensive bill-payment system via the well-known chain of convenience stores. The service is available at more than 900 FamilyMart outlets nationwide.
SCB executive vice president and head of GTS Division Mr. Trirong Butragaht said customers used to prefer to pay bills only through commercial banks, but this preference has been changing. Payment of bills via retailers has grown to account for more than 60% of total bill payment volume in Thailand, and this proportion is expected to continue increasing every year.
To help billers keep pace with this trend, the Bank has teamed up with FamilyMart to develop this new bill payment system covering more than 100 participating products and services. This major system gives customers the convenience of paying their bills at FamilyMart outlets in cities, towns and other shop locations all over the country.
Mr. Nat Wongpanich, chief executive officer of Central FamilyMart Co., Ltd., said SCB approached the company to jointly develop the bill payment system. The project is important because it provides a total solution to FamilyMart, SCB, and, most importantly, customers. The system has already been officially launched and is in operation.
“Customers can now pay a very wide variety of bills conveniently at any time at the more than 900 FamilyMart stores that display the SCB bill payment logo. With the SCB bill payment system, customers can count on payment security and reliability. We expect that the number of FamilyMart outlets providing the service will increase to 1,000 by the end of this year and to 3,000 by 2017,” he said.
Participating billers include Metropolitan Waterworks Authority, Provincial Waterworks Authority, True Group, AIS, SCB Credit Card, AEON Thana Sinsap (Thailand), SCB Life Insurance (Thailand), Toyota Leasing, Muang Thai Life Insurance, Bangkok Life Assurance, and many other companies. Upon completion of a transaction, a FamilyMart staff provides the customer with a bill payment receipt so that the transaction can be checked later.
Mr. Trirong said: “SCB believes that cooperating with FamilyMart to offer this service is a big step ahead in increasing product and service payment channels to meet the changing needs of customers in Thailand today. The Bank expects that the new joint service will capture 10% of the bill-payment market via retail shops within three years.”
Mr. Trirong Butragaht, SCB executive vice president and head of GTS Division, joined Mr. Nat Wongpanich, chief executive officer of Central FamilyMart Co., Ltd., in inaugurating the bill payment system for paying bills at FamilyMart stores. Available at more than 900 FamilyMart stores nationwide, the new service gives customers an important new convenience in paying a very wide variety of bills. A special event launching the service took place recently at SCB’s Head Office in Bangkok.