KBank has teamed up with three leading Fintech companies, 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 to more than 30 banks in Thailand.

With the collaboration of Kbank and Fintech companies, this has enabled Kbank to offer services to facilitate cross-border money transfer. Customers can choose to transfer money to more than 30 participating banks offering greater convenience and speed, with specified receipt date and transfer fees.

The calculation of transfer fees 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 up the development of cross-border transfer services 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. 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.

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.

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 the demands 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.

This will surely be the beginning of more international money transfers between Thailand and overseas countries. The easier and faster it becomes via mobile apps, the more foreign connections can be made in the banking industry.