ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Krungsri Bank made a shrewd decision four years ago to get to the head of the queue when it came to acquiring and investing in new technology, by creating Krungsri Finnovate. Its MD, Sam Tanskul, believes it can now help propel Thailand towards an AI-enabled future It’s no coincidence that the biggest second-quarter financial deal in Southeast Asia involved Thai bank Krungsri and its Japanese superpower parent Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG). The $706million investment in Singapore-based Grab Holdings, the ride-hailing-turned-super app, which now includes food delivery and financial services, was a shrewd one from a shareholder’s perspective. Grab is, after all, South East Asia’s first decacom, valued at more than $10billion. But Krungsri is more interested in what it can learn from Grab’s mission to become an ‘AI everywhere operation’. To put this in perspective, every day Grab generates about 40 terabytes of
data, which is analysed using artificial intelligence (AI) to bring improvements for customers and the nations it operates in. And it’s in no mood to stand still, with its AI development budget, encompassing infrastructure, talent, technology and strategic partnerships, totalling more than $100million in 2019 and expected to increase by 50 per cent in 2020. The vital importance of AI to future prosperity is well understood by Krungsri (the common name for Bank of Ayudhya, Thailand’s fourth largest bank), and the country as a whole. Thailand has put AI at the centre of national policy with its Digital Economy and Society Development Plan, and is testing a biometrics-based digital identity scheme for all citizens which will be a foundation stone for the digitisation of infrastructure that touches every aspect of their lives. Based on blockchain, the biometricallysupercharged Smart ID system will provide near-instant, secure verification of individuals and a gateway to the future for Thais, be it remotely opening a bank account using e-KYC (know your customer) or accessing medical help through telemedicine. Indeed, according to a Thai government-commissioned survey by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), ‘without an effective industrial policy that harnesses AI, Thailand risks losing six per
cent of GDP (gross domestic product) in 2035 due to losses in export competitiveness and declines in foreign direct investment’. But by introducing the right interventions to harness AI and associated automation tools to boost skills, strengthen international competitiveness and improve public services, ‘Thailand could keep unemployment levels low and see an increase in GDP to more than US$1trilllion by 2035, up from US$544billion today’. For its part, Krungsri recognised the value of technology investment back in 2016, when it set up Krungsri Finnovate, a venture capital fund for fintechs which also runs its fintech accelerator programme. It has a two-pronged strategy: to use the accelerator programme, Krungsri Rise, and a graduate contest called Krungsri Uni Startup, to expand Thailand’s fintech ecosystem; and a $30million fund aimed at growth startups at Series A funding stage or later to make sure they succeed. `It’s aiming to be the best banking corporate venture capital business in ASEAN (the association of Southeast Asian Nations) by channelling investment specifically into AI and data analytics innovation.
Charting success: Krungsri Finnovate has a good track record of investing in AI
Putting the AI in Thai www.fintech.finance
Issue 17 | TheFintechMagazine
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