Legal squad to back SCB’s push into digital banking
Siam Commercial Bank has set up a digital legal team to step up efforts in guarding against rising cybersecurity threats and to comply with new digital laws amid SCB’s shift towards a digital banking platform.
The bank’s legal and control unit, set up in mid-2017, covers legal, compliance and fraud, said chief legal and control officer Wallaya Kaewrungruang.
SET-listed SCB, the country’s secondlargest lender by assets, has set an ambitious goal to overtake Kasikornbank (KBank) as the top mobile banking provider this year and reach 10 million users by 2020.
The bank, through SCB Easy, is now the country’s second-largest mobile banking provider with 4-5 million users, while K Plus, KBank’s mobile banking app, has about 8 million users.
SCB has also recruited young lawyers to take charge of the related digital laws, Mrs Wallaya said.
Amid fast-changing technology and digital-related legislation, the bank has awarded several scholarships for overseas study in digital law.
Recent decades have seen the emergence of digital-related laws such as the Electronic Transaction Act (2001), the Computer-Related Crime Act (2007), the Payment System Act (2017) and the draft of the Fintech Act.
The bank’s legal and control unit has 470 staff, with 270 on the legal team, 120 in compliance and 80 dealing with fraud.
Adoption of more advanced technology will lead to greater cybersecurity risks and more digital banking transactions.
Apart from l awyers’ skill development, SCB hopes to apply technology to legal work.
“We plan to adopt AI (artificial intelligence) to prove the wording of Englishlanguage contracts,” Mrs Wallaya said. “The technology is expected to be rolled out this year.”
Apart from digital-related laws, the bank is also studying new rules from the Bank of Thailand, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Office of Insurance Commission.
SCB shares closed Friday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 158 baht, up two baht, in trade worth 1.5 billion baht.