Online veteran Kanokwan forges e-payment gateway

IP Payment Solution Co, a newly established payment gateway firm, has jumped onto the local e-payment and mobile wallet bandwagon with a 200-millionbaht investment.

The Bangkok-based company was started by pioneering internet service provider Kanokwan Wongwatanasin, who co-founded KSC Commercial Internet Co in 1994.

The emergence of e-shopping and the surge in mobile internet users will bring about exponential growth in the e-payment and mobile wallet market over the next few years, said Ms Kanokwan, who is also chief executive of IP Payment Solution.

Thailand’s e-commerce sector, especially mobile commerce, is expected to grow by at least 20% this year thanks to the proliferation of mobile internet use and the arrival of fourth-generation wireless broadband service.

The country has an estimated 14.8 million online shoppers with 500,000 online merchants, Ms Kanokwan said.

The Bank of Thailand is playing an important role in supporting the e-commerce market, with the government’s digital economy scheme expected to usher in a “cashless society”.

IP Payment Solution has obtained two licences from the central bank to provide payment gateway service to companies choosing not to invest in their own infrastructure.

The company also provides a mobile wallet payment system.

Ms Kanokwan said IP Payment Solution would introduce the PayforU Mobile Wallet service this month, letting online shoppers and consumers pay via normal methods such as credit cards, debit cards and internet banking.

PayforU will cover utility bill payments, mobile airtime top-ups and payments for games on social media along with money transfers for migrant workers.

The company is looking to increase the number of local partners in online games, streaming media and internet protocol TV.

“We hope to have at least 1 million mobile wallet users this year, doubling to 2 million in 2017,” Ms Kanokwan said.

“We expect to have up to 200,000 transactions through our system per day within one year of operation.”

Now is the right time for IP Payment Solution to enter the market, as the local e-commerce market is booming and still growing quickly, she added.