UK and Thailand deepening fintech partnership

By Mark Field 
Special to The Nation

 

 

Last week London played host to leading members of Thailand’s fintech community.

 

During their trip they visited world-leading fintech businesses, regulators at the cutting edge and the 325-year-old Bank of England. The visit was the latest in a series of activities which mark a deepening fintech partnership between Thailand and the UK.

 

Fintech (financial technology) refers to the innovative use of technology in the design and delivery of financial services and products. A technology at the heart of the fourth industrial revolution, its use is expanding rapidly: in the first six months of 2018 alone, the UK attracted a record high £12 billion of investment in fintech.

 

Thailand is primed to be among the biggest winners from the fintech revolution in the years ahead. At the end of last year, a report by Deloitte and Robocash concluded that Asean nations represent the greatest opportunity for fintech development thanks to their tech-savvy populations and governments. Thailand is particularly well placed: 82 per cent of its population is already online and 60 per cent currently use online banking. In addition, Thailand’s financial regulators are forward looking and technology aware.

 

This is why the UK, which is home to the most open and dynamic financial centre in the world, has been working to develop a sustainable fintech partnership with Thailand. 

 

The key factors that make the UK a global centre for financial services - talent, availability of capital and pro-innovation regulation – are also the reasons that London has repeatedly been identified as the leading global fintech hub. We believe that maintaining this lead requires continuous, ambitious policy development.

 

If innovative regulation is one pillar of the UK’s strategy for fintech success, building strong international links is another. As we leave the EU, the UK is working harder than ever to build fintech partnerships with others. We have put fintech at the heart of the UK’s Asean Economic Reform

 

Programme, which will focus on Thailand and which aims to promote inclusive economic growth. This three-year programme will provide technical assistance and the opportunity to share experiences in support of the continuing development of fintech regulation in Thailand and some other Asean countries. 

 

As the trip drew to a close last week, the delegates from Thailand shared their thoughts on their time in the UK. One said warmly of the Bank of England and UK financial regulators that their “work is agile with little bureaucracy ... they seem to work in many ways like startup businesses”.

 

UK representatives at the conference in the meantime were excited by Thailand’s dynamic fintech market and the openness of its regulators. Like many others, I look forward to seeing where this burgeoning relationship leads.

 

Mark Field is the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister for Asia and Pacific.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/opinion/30365557

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-03-11

47 minutes ago, webfact said:

Thailand’s dynamic fintech market

It'll never catch on here - the money trail is too visible.

If you cut away the waffle and verbiage of the article, there is not much left.

 

London is a financial centre because there is a level of trust in regulation and ethical behaviour. Even then, it often fails.

 

Due to the patronage system being the political structure of Thailand, the resulting patronage networks ensure regulation is only hit and miss at best. So, it is difficult to see how Thailand can grow its fintech market. When you also consider it has Singapore on its doorstep, it becomes harder still.

Even a simple transfer online seems to be a challenge for Thai banks - so I think before we talk about fintech here let’s get the basics right first.

Having encountered no problems so far just last night I transferred money into a friends account - the app was unusually slow and it looked like the transaction had not gone through. Checked transfers this morning and the transfer did not show.

Checked the account balance and sure enough the amount had been deducted!

I don’t even use my credit card here because there used to be so much fraud here. Only use it to book flights and hotels online.

I would never trust fintech if a country like Thailand is involved - cashless fintech transactions involve trust - and trust you can not!

Looked into smart life / smart home applications / hardware but in countries like Thailand one could use their full potential in maybe 20 years if at all - since online transactions are difficult here and can not be entrusted with your financial details.

Imagine voice shopping will increase from 2 billion $ to 40 billion $ in the next 3 years just by shouting out to “Alexa”or the dreaded “Hey Google” or other smart home applications - that is in other countries of course.

Walk into a store here that sells smart home appliances and ask them if they are Zigbee compatible and you get blank stares!

I don’t think there is a single e-tailer in Thailand one could use for voice shopping- and again if there where any could they be trusted with your financial transaction details?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

 

 

'Thailand is primed to be among the biggest winners from the fintech revolution in the years ahead. '

????????????????????????????????

So will that mean we have to ditch our bank books, not have our ID cards / passports photocopied 20 times, stand in queues for 25 minutes and not get printed statements through the post 1 month late.

Nah, it would never work, why change a winning formula ?

So the world's money laundering centre teams up with the world's corruption capital?