opening remarks bot ’ s policy direction on fintech development bangkok fintech fair 2018 : sme and consumer financial solutions dr. veerathai santiprabhob governor of the bank of thailand monday 19 march 2018 bank of thailand learning center distinguished guests ladies and gentlemen swasdee krub, a very good morning to you all. welcome to the inaugural bangkok fintech fair and welcome to the bank of thailand learning center. this learning center was first opened to the public in december of last year. it is not only bangkok ’ s newest learning center and public library but also an open space for individuals and entrepreneurs to collaborate and exchange ideas. so, it is fitting that our very first bangkok fintech fair is held at this venue. over the next two days, we will be joined by some of the top minds from thailand ’ s fintech and financial industry as well as regional and global leaders in financial innovation. the main discussion panels will present various issues surrounding fintech ecosystem with the focus on sme financial solutions, retail payments, and technology infrastructure ; the cybersecurity room, which is in the library, will underscore the importance of cyber - awareness and highlight key security issues, ranging from emerging threats to defensive strategies ; and the technology talk room and various presentation booths all over the venue will showcase some of the latest technologies and initiatives thailand ’ s fintech and financial industries are working on. 1 - 7 ladies and gentlemen, on the program, this morning i am supposed to talk about bank of thailand ’ s policy direction on fintech development. before i do so, i would like to take a step back and focus on three key words, which i believe are imperative for formulating financial sector policy for thailand and the region as a whole. these three key words are productivity, immunity, and inclusivity. first, an emphasis must be placed on productivity as uplifting productivity is a critical requirement for long term growth of an economy. for one, at current stage, many countries in our region are facing structural transformation of aging workforce. shrinking workforce can dampen long term growth prospect. we must become more productive in order to increase output level and improve standard of living of our people. productivity is also needed to boost competitiveness of businesses as expanding global trade network and emergence of large e - business platforms have introduced new competitors into our business landscape. moreover, roles of banks could be challenged as sharing financial platforms gain prominence in the modern economy, and new fintech firms

of these solutions lead to lower cost of financial services, greater financial access, and greater opportunity for the public. ultimately, “ fintech ” can help unlock massive potential of our people and businesses and be a powerful tool for thailand and developing countries to improve on productivity, immunity, and inclusivity of the financial system as well as for the whole economy. ladies and gentlemen, the theme of our very first bangkok fintech fair focuses on smes and consumers, because these two groups face various challenges and can benefit greatly from the adoption of fintech. for thailand, smes represent the majority of firms and make up over 80 percent of total employment. many smes struggle to gain access to finance and payment services, which, on one hand, can be attributed to poor financial health due to loss of competitiveness. on the other hand, many smes lack the financial management skills and collateral needed for funding, and their 5 - 7 cost of finance remains high. meanwhile, the thai public is facing big hurdles of low long - term savings and high household debts, with thailand having household debt to gdp ratio amongst the highest in the region. many households lack access to efficient and low - cost financial services, be it the deposit, payment, insurance or loan products. these people need to be better served by our financial system to be able to unlock their potential, improve standard of living, and ensure their financial security as they age. despite many challenges, i am delighted that exciting developments and initiatives are taking place in thailand and around the region using fintech to address these problems. allow me to highlight some of these initiatives. we have : accounting service applications for smes and start - ups on cloud platforms online mortgage refinance portals that help select the best refinancing option for mortgage clients real - time and low cost cross - border money transfer and remittance platforms biometric verifications for e - kyc to facilitate remote access to financial services machine learning using alternative data such as social media for credit scoring real - time invoice financing through common supply chain platform standardized qr code for e - payments, which has reached nearly 1 million merchants within six months after exiting from the bank of thailand ’ s regulatory sandbox ; and last but not least promptpay, a real - time payment infrastructure that has facilitated electronic payments for over 39 million registered ids in thailand 6 - 7 these are just some of the solutions available for smes and consumers in our market. to this end,