Bangkok--25 Sep--KASIKORNBANK
KASIKORNBANK PCL (KBank) now offers services to facilitate cross-border money transfer from four countries via three leading fintech applications, through which customers can choose to transfer money to any of more than 30 participating banks, while being able to determine the exact receipt date and know the exact amount of transfer fee. The calculation of transfer fee allows customers to ensure that recipients get the full amount of transferred funds. KBank expects the amount of money wired through these apps to more than triple next year, and is also speeding development of cross-border transfer service via the K PLUS app, which will be the first of its kind from Thai banks to address the rapidly growing demand for international transactions in the digital era.
Mr. Silawat Santivisat, KBank Executive Vice President, said that Thais are increasingly using international money transfer services for trade and remittance, as well as for their children's overseas study and e-commerce transactions. However, there are certain limitations with existing cross-border fund transfers. For instance, customers cannot determine the receipt date or calculate the exact amount of transfer fees incurred at either sending or destination banks, which charge different rates of transfer fees. Therefore, recipients may not receive the full amount of transferred funds as intended. In addition, they must waste their time tracking the latest status of the transfer process. Such limitations cause inconvenience to both senders and recipients.
KBank has therefore joined with three leading fintech companies, namely TransferTo, InstaReM and Currenxie, which provide cross-border payment applications that allow customers to transfer funds from four countries–Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Australia–via KBank to the recipients' accounts in any of more than 30 banks in Thailand. Senders can carry out transactions via these international transfer apps, and determine the exact receipt date and time. Senders and recipients can also know the exact transfer fees and be assured that they will be able to transfer the full amount as intended and at the designated time. The maximum transfer amount is 500,000 Baht per transaction.
Currently, inward funds transfer for retail customers totals around 3.8 million transactions or 1.5 trillion Baht per year in Thailand. Of this, 620,000 transactions are made via KBank, accounting for 16 percent, or 250 billion Baht a year. Meanwhile, inward remittance made via legal non-bank channels stands at around 200,000 transactions, topping 10 billion Baht. KBank's inward funds transfer via fintech apps has been available on a trial basis since March of this year. KBank expects to see around 20,000 transactions conducted via this channel by the end of this year, and more than triple that amount within 2018.
Mr. Silawat added that this latest collaboration between KBank and fintech firms represents a new trend of cross-border funds transfer which will assist our customers even more. To better meet demand in the digital era, KBank is now developing international retail funds transfer via K PLUS, which can be made to recipients in more than 40 countries across the globe, including China, the US, the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and the EU nations. Senders can determine the receipt date and know the exact transfer fee immediately. This initiative marks a new dimension of outward remittance for retail clients, presently at around 8 million transactions or topping 230 billion Baht in value annually.