KBank: Debit card spending surges 30%

Kasikornbank’s (KBank) debit card spending for the first eight months surged by 30% year-on-year, thanks to consumers switching over to electronic payments, the national e-payment initiative and booming online shopping.

The bank’s debit card spending for January to August amounted to 44.9 billion baht, said first senior vice-president Supaneewan Chutrakul.

KBank is the largest debit card issuer by purchase volume, holding a 40% market share.

The national e-payment scheme has raised consumer awareness of cash alternatives, she said. The Bank of Thailand’s policy to migrate ATM debit cards with magnetic stripes to more secure chip-embedded cards contributed to higher spending through plastic cards, said Ms Supaneewan.

As of July, the banking’s debt card payments totalled 120 billion baht.

The Finance Ministry’s lucky draw campaign to attract more merchants to installing electronic data capture (EDC) terminals and consumers to use debit cards when purchasing goods and services has also boosted card spending, she said.

According to the campaign — which will run until May next year — debit card users are entitled to 1,001 prizes a month, with the largest prize 1 million baht, and 1,000 other prizes starting from 2,000 baht. Merchants who install EDC terminals are also entitled to win 6-30 prizes a month.

Ms Supaneewan said changing lifestyles and financial behaviours, particularly in younger segments also helped boost spending through cards. Online shopping is the main contributor to debit card payment volume.

KBank, the country’s fourth largest lender by assets, aims for a 70-billion-baht in spending through its debit cards this year, a 30% increase from last year.

The bank expects to increase its debit card base to 12 million by the end of the year from 11.7 million currently, which would account for 15.3% of the total debit cards in circulation.

She said that 4.8 million or 41% for the bank’s total debit cards have chip-embedded technology.

KBank has offered ATM debit chip cards to replace strip-only ATM cards over the past several years with an entry fee of 250 baht per card and a 350-baht annual fee.

The bank yesterday launched a new character debit card, K-Pokemon Debit Card, targeting 200,000 new cards for the first year.

KBANK shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 216 baht, up two baht, in heavy trade worth 1.7 billion baht.