A press release on Thursday said that the continued expansion of international schools in Thailand brings stronger competition, a requirement for greater cost-efficiency as well as higher demand from parents for multiple payment methods that are reliable, safe and simple to use.

The omni-channel solutions allow businesses in Thailand to collect payments from customers via diverse payment methods including credit cards, bank transfers, e-wallets and cash.

The service enables corporates to experience greater operational efficiency by using one direct interface, eliminating their need to integrate with multiple payment service providers.

According to 2018 data from ISC Research, Thailand has around 170 English-medium international schools responding to the learning needs of pre-school, primary and high-school students, with nearly 66,700 pupils in total. Bangkok dominates the market, with 106 schools. Student enrolment has increased by 30 per cent since 2012 and is predicted to expand further as the country continues to attract more expats.

Kelvin Tan, Chief Executive Officer, HSBC Thailand said “HSBC is committed to making banking simpler, faster and more secure – and our digital solutions are market leading in this respect. Through a partnership with a leading payment service provider, our unique platform helps corporate clients to manage their cash more efficiently.

“As a global market-leading payment proposition, HSBC has made considerable investments in delivering the most secure and beneficial digital transaction services to customers in parallel with the provision of professional advisory services by dedicated industry-leading practitioners.”

Jason Tan, Regional Head of Global Liquidity and Cash Management, International, HSBC, said: “Market-leading, innovative cash management and treasury solutions at a regional level are now being rolled out in Thailand to cater to the nation’s evolving liquidity and payment collection needs.

“HSBC is committed to continued investment in our network markets to ensure we bring cutting edge solutions to our customers and help them thrive through digital transformation and innovation. A number of unique and ground-breaking initiatives will be launched in Thailand as we continue to invest more in the region.”

Paul Steven Schofield, Head of St Andrews International School said “We are delighted to be an early-mover in engaging with HSBC to embark on our digital journey. Through our partnership, HSBC has enabled us to reduce operational costs, enhance liquidity management, and improve sustainable business efficiency.

“With omni-channel solutions, we are also well equipped to build overall customer satisfaction through the payment flexibility regardless of time or place. Moving towards a more cost efficiency and customer centricity, we believe they are key for our business to grow.”

St Andrews International School provides primary and high school education. It was founded in 2001 and joined the Hong Kong-headquartered Nord Anglia Education Group of schools in 2012.

HSBC aims to be the leading international provider of main collections services for business clients in Thailand and is committed to supporting the development of Thailand’s payment infrastructure to build an innovation-based economy as part of the Thailand 4.0 aspiration.

So far, HSBC has provided PromptPay and Bill Payment PromptPay for business clients in Thailand and there are even more omni-channel solutions of to be introduced in the near future.

True yesterday reported, in a filing to the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), that TUC wished to take up the government’s offer of assistance announced last month. The measures are available for the three 900MHz telecom operators, including TUC, which have been offered a longer period for their upfront payments. Their total licence fee will be divided into 10 equal instalments.

The 900MHz licence holders opting for the new conditions must inform the NBTC by tomorrow.

The junta’s relief measures include a condition that makes it mandatory for any of 900MHz licence holders accepting its relief offer to take part in the NBTC’s planned sales of 700MHz spectrum. The licence holders can inform the NBTC that they want to take up the junta offer but can later opt not to buy the 700MHz licence slots. However, they would lose the extended payment facility if they do not take part in the sales and would |have to pay as per the original payment schedule.

The NBTC will sell the 700MHz slots on June 19. It has yet to disclose the final price of the slots.

Regarding the 700MHz sales, True said in the SET filing yesterday that TUC has to consider all relevant factors in every facet carefully, especially on the details of the criteria for the 700 MHz frequency spectrum sales. TUC will further consider the matter and proceed as TUC deems appropriate after receiving clear conditions on the criteria for the 700 MHz frequency spectrum allocation.

Under the original terms, Advanced Wireless Network (AWN) and TUC are scheduled to pay hefty final instalments of Bt59.574 billion and Bt60.218 billion, respectively, for their 900MHz licences in 2020. Total Access Communication will pay its final instalment for the 900MHz of Bt30.024 billion in 2022.

RATE KEPT ON HOLD

The Bank of Thailand’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) yesterday voted unanimously to maintain its policy rate at 1.75 per cent, MPC secretary Titanun Mallikamas said.

The economy is expected to continue on the path of recovery although external demand might slow down, Titanun said. The committee viewed the current accommodative monetary policy stance as appropriate and would continue to monitor developments relating to economic growth, inflation, and financial stability as well as associated risks in deliberating future monetary policies. The committee also said the economy would expand at a slower pace than indicated in its previous assessment.

TAX TAKE REVVED UP

A new excise levied on motocycles based on their emissions of carbon dioxide could boost excise-tax revenue by 30 to 40 per cent, according to the Excise Department.

Nattakorn Uthensut, director of the Tax Planning Office at the department, said the Cabinet approved the excise for motorcycles based on emissions in a bid to reduce air pollution, particularly particulate matter that contributes to heavy PM2.5 readings.

“Now, the department takes in Bt2 billion in excise-tax revenue annually from motorcycles. After the excise tax restructuring, the excise-tax revenue from motorcycles will increase by 30-40 per cent or about Bt600-Bt800 million per year,” he said. On average, motorcycle |riders will have to pay Bt100-Bt800 per machine annually under the new |structure.

The affirmation reflects PTT’s standalone credit profile (SCP) of “bbb+”, which is at the same level as the sovereign’s rating (BBB+/Stable). PTT’s ratings will continue to be equalised with those of the sovereign under Fitch’s Government-Related Entities (GRE) Rating Criteria if the company’s SCP weakens, provided our assessment of PTT under the GRE criteria remains unchanged. PTT’s SCP reflects its integrated business model and strong financial position. Upstream operations remain weak, but are likely to improve over the medium term, with low financial leverage providing headroom to address depleting reserves.

According to Cisco, Thailand ranked 11th on the Asia Pacific SMB (small and medium businesses) Digital Maturity Index.

Osmep director Suwanchai Lohawattanakul said that SMEs have to transition their businesses into digital SMEs. The Office has collaborated with Cisco to provide training courses related to digital business and digital transformation to the SMEs. The office aims to develop 200,000 digital SMEs by the end of this year. It also will provide e-commerce training to support the SMEs.

“Thailand now has around 3 million SMEs nationwide. Around 2.3 million can be classified as micro-SMEs. Osmep expects that the revenue of SMEs will make up around 43 per cent of the country’s total GDP by the end of this year,” said Suwanchai.

He said the Office this year has a budget of around Bt1.2 billion to develop SMEs nationwide. It expects that it would be able to help SMEs gain around Bt4.8 billion in revenue by the end of this year.

Vatsun Thirapatarapong, managing director, of Cisco Thailand, said that the collaboration will help SMEs run their business smoothly using the Cisco START solution, which would help SMEs with digital transformation. The training course in the first step will focus on manufacturing and retail businesses.

He also said that research firm IDC has created an Asia Pacific SMB Digital Maturity Index.

The index was developed by IDC based on an independent survey of 1,340 respondents across the 14 major economies in the Asia Pacific region. Thailand also ranked No 11, looked at digital maturity of SMBs across four business dimensions: technology adoption and application, digital transformation strategy and organisation, processes and governance, and the capability to source, manage and retain the right talent to enable their digital transformation.

According to the survey, Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) in Thailand are making initial technology investments in cloud, IT hardware upgrades and cybersecurity, as a large majority of them begin their digital transformation journeys.

Taking into account the four dimensions, SMBs in Asean, with the exception of Singapore, were classified into the “Digital Indifferent” stage of digital maturity. The stage is defined as being one where companies’ digital efforts are often reactive to market changes, rather than driven by a proactive tactical approach.

Having the right IT infrastructure in place is critical to meet the evolving needs of SMBs in Thailand and ensure long-term success. The SMBs recognise the importance and 12.1 per cent of respondents say they are investing in IT software hardware upgrades, he said.

However, SMBs in Thailand are also facing hurdles in their digital transformation. Respondents said they were being held back by the lack of insight into operational and customer data (17.9 per cent), lack of digital skills and talent (15.7 per cent), and the lack of a digital mindset or cultural challenges in the organisation (14 per cent).

“SMEs are very important to the economy. In 2018, some 3 million SMEs in Thailand created employment for 12.16 million people and contributed 43.2 per cent of the country’s GDP,” said Suwanchai. The adoption of the digital economy and utilisation of information technology will directly boost a significant number of new entrepreneurs in the market, enhance competitive advantages and remove market barriers, especially from the micro small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector – the backbone of the economy in most countries,” Suwanchai said.

“We help MSMEs in adopting digital technology and creating new business by offering them various programmes and schemes, including work at the regional level. Indeed, the most challenging and critical issue for many countries in Asean right now is the necessity for digital adoption of micro-enterprises. As a result, this year, when Thailand is chairing Asean, Osmep will organise Asean activities under the theme “Digitalisation of Asean Micro Enterprises”. Its objective is to enhance digital marketing channels for Asean micro-enterprises and formalising digitalised micro-enterprises” said Suwanchai.