Siam Commercial Bank unveils fintech strategy
Thailand's Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) has formally announced a financial technology investment strategy aimed at improving customer experience while encouraging domestic start-ups to keep up with changes in the global market.
According to a statement, the initiative known as "Forwarding Fintech" comprises a $50 million venture capital budget to be managed by the bank's investment arm, Digital Ventures, as well as a digital production R&D division and a start-up accelerator.
Digital Ventures made its first fintech investment under the program last month by participating in a $60 million fundraise for Southeast Asia-focused firm Golden Gate Ventures.
"This investment strengthens SCB by allowing it to expand the network with leading fintech companies and to take a deeper dive into the fintech ecosystem," Thana Thienachariya, chairman of the Digital Ventures' executive committee said. "With the deep insights into the ecosystem, we will eventually be able to innovate the financial services and deliver impressive customer experiences to SCB's customers."
In the past week, Digital Ventures has also entered a partnership with Life Sreda, a growth-stage fintech VC firm in Singapore. This collaboration is expected to strategically benefit SCB in both research and investment, improving financial services in the future.
SCB's digital products division, meanwhile, will be mobilized to carry out fintech R&D to satisfy customer demand in areas such as blockchain, internet-of-things, machine learning and biometrics technologies. In August, this division will open a free-of-charge bank simulation platform that acts as a virtual testing environment for businesses developing financial technology products.
Digital Ventures is also aiming to be the first firm in Thailand to launch a free-of-charge program that provides SCB data for the use of businesses developing products. This service will complement an accelerator focused on domestic and regional fintech companies. Each business participating in the accelerator will be given a grant of THB300,000 ($860).
Recent momentum in Southeast Asia's fintech space includes last week's $17.5 million round for Thai online payments company Omise, a $28 million investment in Vietnam's e-wallet provider M_Service and the launch of an incubator in Singapore by sector leader PayPal.
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