User base of TMB Touch forecast to double

TMB Bank, the country’s seventh-largest lender by assets, predicts the number of users for its mobile application, TMB Touch, will double to 2 million by mid-2018 with the advent of the digital age.

“With changing consumer behaviour, the number of TMB Touch users grew around 40% from [September] last year to 1 million, so we expect the growth to be even higher,” said head of retail marketing Mingkwan Pattanawong.

She said that 60% of TMB Touch’s users or 600,000 people are active.

The bank has also seen strong growth of 110% in the number of active users over the same period last year, said Ms Mingkwan.

She said that active users are defined as those who use the app at least once a month.

With the TMB All Free account, which features transaction fee waivers, the bank has been able to gain more customers and users of the app, said Ms Mingkwan.

The recent launch of PromptPay service under the National e-payment scheme, which offers lower fee for money transfers, also helped support the use of mobile banking applications.

TMB yesterday also launched a marketing campaign in cooperation with SET-listed Major Cineplex Group Plc, offering promotional prices for TMB Touch users who pay for tickets through the quick response (QR) code, available via the bank’s mobile app.

“We want to help our customers become more familiar with the new form of payment, QR codes, before launching it to the public later this year,” she said.

TMB, along with five commercial banks, have recently entered the Bank of Thailand’s regulatory sandbox to test out their QR code payment systems after the central bank launched the standardised QR code for payments in late August.

Ms Mingkwan said that the bank has not yet noticed any impact from the Bank of Thailand’s recent roll out of tougher regulations for credit cards and personal loans.

According to the new regulations, which came into force on Sept 1, credit lines for new cardholders will be capped at 1.5 times monthly income per card for those earning 15,000 to less than 30,000 baht a month; at three times for those earning 30,000 to less than 50,000; and at five times for those earning 50,000 baht or more.

TMB’s shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 2.44 baht, up 6 satang, in trade worth 700 million baht.