GSB eager for agent tie-up
State-owned Government Savings Bank (GSB) expects three top-up machine service providers will be approved as its banking agents, helping the bank have the country’s largest deposit network and doubling new customers to 2 million per year by 2022. The bank yesterday signed a cooperation agreement with the three providers, which have a combined 211,000 top-up machines nationwide under the brands Boonterm, TermsabuyPlus and Termde. The move would give GSB 226,000 points to accept deposits, the most expansive network in the country, said president Chatchai Payuhanaveechai. GSB is seeking Bank of Thailand approval to appoint the three providers as banking agents. The bank expects customers can deposit money through their top-up machines from April 1, he said. The bank gains 1 million new customers per year. “We expect new client numbers will increase to 2 million a year in three years, with deposits estimated to increase by 5% or 100 billion baht a year over the same period,” said Mr Chatchai. The proposed banking agents would have an average of three top-up machines per village, helping GSB better access customers as commercial banks downsize their branch network, he said. To instil saving habits in children and teenagers aged 7-20, they are allowed to make free deposits starting from 1 baht through the three brands’ top-up machines. The bank has 22 million accounts, of which 5-6 million belong to children with average deposits of 5,000 baht each. Deposits made by GSB’s children customers amount to 30-40 billion baht, compared with the bank’s total deposits at 2.3 trillion. GSB’s transactions through branches make up 26% of the total, with 74% done digitally, said Mr Chatchai. Despite a smaller share of branch transactions, the bank has no plans to shut down the 1,061 outlets across the country or downsize branch staff, but GSB’s branches will be altered from a service-based model to sales-based to generate income, he said. Moreover, some branches will be changed to social-based models to provide services, including job and product sales training for locals. Apart from the three top-up machine operators, GSB recently appointed Thailand Post, TOT, TrueMoney, Central Department Store, and Counter Service as banking agents. Narongsak Lertsuptawee, managing director at Forth Smart Service, the operator of Boonterm’s top-up machine, said the company has 130,000 top-up machines nationwide, with the average daily transactions of 30,000. After being appointed as GSB’s banking agent, the ratio of deposit transactions through Boomterm’s top-up machines is expected to increase by 20%. The company will charge GSB’s customers a 30-baht fee for deposits worth up to 1,000 baht per transaction, and 50 baht for deposits of 1,000-3,000 baht. Chookiat Rujanapornpaje, group chief executive of Sabuy Technology Co, forecast the ratio of deposit transactions through top-up machines will rise to 5% by the middle of next year from 2-3%.