Bangkok--27 Jun--KBank
KASIKORNBANK is the first bank in Thailand to offer American Express card acceptance service for bill payment via K-Payment Gateway. The move will enable Thailand’s e-commerce merchants to tap into AMEX cardholders – who have high spending power – from more than 30 countries globally. The Bank expects more than 5,000 merchants to use its K-Payment Gateway service in 2014, with total card spending of 66 billion Baht, or a growth of 25 percent over-year.
According to Ms. Kwannet Rattanaprug, First Senior Vice President of KASIKORNBANK, KBank, as the leader in the digital banking industry, emphasizes the importance of online payment enhancement through K-Payment Gateway for the ultimate efficient service. The move is aimed at supporting fast-growing e-commerce business operators or online merchants. In 2013, total online payments registered as high as 52 billion Baht, up approximately 20 percent over-year. The Bank has to date enhanced the online bill payment system with a focus on maximum security along with the broadest service network expansion to serve online merchants, which are varied in terms of business types and customer segments, both at home and abroad. The improvement will also ensure complete bill payment service through websites and mobile phones, sales and service channels which have gained much popularity recently.
In light of this, KBank and American Express (Thai) Co., Ltd., one of the world’s leading credit card issuers, have recently enhanced the K-Payment Gateway for AMEX card acceptance service through the online channel. KBank, therefore, has become the first bank in Thailand to provide such a service. The enhanced service will enable Thai SME e-commerce operators to provide convenience in online bill payments for their customers who are AMEX cardholders in Thailand and overseas. This will empower SMEs to access high-spending-power customers who are AMEX cardholders in more than 30 countries and have high financial flexibility in their expenses.
Mr. Neil Van Heerden, Head of Global Merchant Services Thailand (GMS) of American Express (Thai) Co., Ltd., said the fast-growing e-commerce business in Thailand has encouraged AMEX to join hands with KBank in developing the AMEX card acceptance service via K-Payment Gateway.
Mrs. Kwannet added that the cooperation will make K-Payment Gateway the leader in online bill payment with credit and debit cards. The service’s outstanding feature is acceptance of the widest variety of credit cards, namely VISA, MasterCard, JCB, UnionPay and AMEX. K-Payment Gateway also allows customers to either choose manually from as many as 36 currencies that they prefer for payment via the Multi-Currency Conversion system (MCC), or to perform automatic currency conversion via the Dynamic Currency Conversion system (DCC). To increase customer spending power, the KBank SmartPay service, which is popular among K-Credit Cardholders, is also available.
There are more than 4,500 merchants using K-Payment Gateway service at present, while total card spending of 52 billion Baht was registered under this service in 2013, an increase of 20 percent. In the first quarter of 2014, KBank customers’ card spending stood at 14 billion Baht, a growth of 30 percent over-year. The Bank believes that enhancement of the service in covering AMEX cards will result in steady growth of the Bank’s K-Payment Gateway service. In 2014, KBank expects to see more than 5,000 merchants using this service, with total card spending of around 66 billion Baht, or an increase of 25 percent over-year.