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Hello reader,
Thailand is a favorite destination of mine, but one area where it could do better is payments. I didn’t need to carry any cash on a recent trip to Australia, but that’s still not possible in the Land of Smiles.
Could a lack of fintech innovation explain this gap?
The Thai market is dominated by the country’s six largest banks, which collectively control 82% of the commercial banking sectors’ loans and deposits.
They have a total of over US$53 billion in market capitalization, with an average return of around 12% over the past year.
As mentioned in this week’s featured story, these six banks have invested heavily in digitalization over the past few years while waiving fees on online transactions.
Consequently, it is harder for startups to break into the market.
Thailand is expected to award three new virtual bank licenses this year, but analysts have low expectations of how much this will shake up the system.
Read the Big Story to find out why.
— Simon
THE BIG STORY
Image credit: Timmy Loen
How Thailand’s big banks shape – and stifle – fintech innovation
Having heavily invested in digitalization, the country’s six major banks could be limiting competition and innovation in startups.
3 Trends to keep an eye on
Hot stocks, earnings reports, restructuring, pressure from activist investors, and more.
2 Eye-popping facts
The one you didn’t see coming
Take advantage of ASEAN’s trillion-dollar economy
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