The bank has high expectations of the revamped app drawing 100 million users in the future.

The updated version of K Plus, launched yesterday, features an AI personal assistant-type service dubbed KADE.

The bank’s executives said it is expected the new K Plus version would help KBank to add two million customers a year and reach a total of 20 million accounts within three years.

KBank president Patchara Samalapa said the K Plus platform has been in use for more than five years, catching on with more than 60 per cent of the bank’s 15 million customers.

With latest development, a new lifestyle function with a personalisation feature has been initiated under the concept of “with a change, we understand you better”.

Somkid Jiranuntarat, chairman of the Kasikorn business-technology group, said that the new version of K Plus not only offer financial services but many others as well.

Currently, the most used function of K Plus involves fund transfer, top-up and payment transactions, totalling 125 million transactions a month. So-called lifestyle transactions now number about 500,000, or less than 1 per cent of the transfer-top up-payment transactions, which is lower than expected. Given this, the bank plans to develop a new function to enable customers to conduct other transactions to match their lifestyles, aiming at raising lifestyle transactions from 1 per cent to 5-10 per cent within one year.

Somkid said the new K Plus is much easier to use and is secure. Customers can withdraw cash without the need to use any cards. Instead, they can use their own mobile phone and their PIN, ensuring security.

He said AI is the integral part of the new application. “Today’s AI technology is much more advance than was the case three years ago,” Somkid said.

KADE would recognise individual users, make suggestions according to each behaviour pattern, and help user to access other services in Thailand and globally, he said.

“Under the ‘My favourite’ menu, users can choose his or her own choices. So they can do transactions right away. On ‘K + market’, will arrange choices according to each user’s needs and lifestyle. While on ‘K + Shop’, AI would assist the users about their business planning, or sales of products,” said Somkid.

A voice command function would be ready early next year. In the future, KADE would be able to offer financial advice, such as for savings and investment, said Somkid.