Thai Central Bank tightens up measures to protect bank customers

Bank customers who want to transfer more than 50,000 baht electronically from their bank accounts are required to have their faces scanned to confirm their banking transactions, under a new set of measures imposed by the Bank of Thailand to protect bank customers from online thieves.

Bank of Thailand Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput has issued an order instructing all financial institutions, including commercial banks, to upgrade their banking systems to cope with increasing online theft from customers’ bank accounts.

Managers of all financial institutions and all providers of electronic money transfer services, which are not financial institutions, are to report to the central bank their systems for dealing with bank transaction thefts and they must meet the minimum standard set by the central bank.

The new measures also include the requirement for all banks to tighten up the process for the opening of new bank accounts.

Financial institutions and banks are required to develop their banking systems to be capable of detecting irregularities in transactions around the clock. If an irregularity is detected, the bank in question must notify the customer within one hour of the detection and to report an update on the case within one working day.

For a bank customer who has money deducted from their bank account through a debit card in a transaction which they did not conduct, the bank must refund the customer in full amount within five days. In case of a credit card, the bank cannot ask for payment from the customer for a transaction that they did not conduct.