SCB GEARS UP FOR AGGRESSIVE GROWTH OF WEB-BASED SERVICES

       Siam Commercial Bank will next year aggressively expand its Internet and mobile banking services including SMS banking, mutual funds, insurance and financial planning.
       A month ago, it launched a widget as a new banking channel for making financial transactions easier.
       Executive vice president, said yesterday that the key feature of the widget was convenient access, as users did not have to open a browser and key in the URL name.
       But they could do the same financial transactions as with Internet banking by using the widget, which could be downloaded on their mobile phone or computer from the Internet banking channel.
       At present, 10 per cent or about 800,000 customers use Internet banking, while the bank has eight to nine million accounts. But Internet banking accounts for 20 per cent of the total 50 million transactions each month.
       SCB plans to expand Internet banking users next year to 20 per cent of total customers or about 1.5 million customers. The bank has gained Bt60 million in fee income from this channel so far.
       Next year, the bank would introduce more complex financial products to Internet and mobile banking.
       Customers will be allowed to make transactions such as checking account balances and transferring money via SMS on their mobile phone when they send the code and bank account number. This channel would be suitable for those who still use the old version of mobile phones and not the Internet.
       SCB will promote its SMS-alert service to customers first, and then gradually introduce new SMS banking services to them.
       It will also sell insurance products online, including life insurance, personal assurance, auto insurance both first and third class, and insurance according to the traffic victim protection law. The bank will have customers fill in their information for calculation.
       The same with financial planning - customers can also do it online with no need to contact the bank's branches.
       The bank can save a lot on operating costs when it can encourage customers to increasingly use Internet banking.
       Internet banking was an informationrich channel, so if customers used it more, the bank could extract savings from its call centre service, which costs at least Bt20 per call.
       Bank staff would have more time to introduce sophisticated products to customers.
       Internet penetration in the country has reached 20 million users, so the bank expects to expand its Internet banking offerings.
       However online communities were not satisfied with hard selling, so the bank had to be very careful in doing marketing among online customers.
       Marketing would be in form of information and entertainment, such as in the middle of this month, when the bank would promote the widget by holding an online game, with prizes.

       SCB plans to expand Internet-banking users next year to 20 per cent of customers, or about 1.5 million customers. It has gained Bt60 million in fee income from this channel so far.