KASIKORNBANK, the fourth-largest commercial bank in Thailand, and Lu International, a subsidiary of China’s leading retail fintech enterprise Lufax Holding, jointly announced August 18 a strategic partnership to meet the rising demand for digital financial services in Thailand. 

The partnership allows Kasikornbank to leverage Lu International’s technology and expertise to establish a comprehensive online wealth management platform for retail investors in the Southeast Asian country. 

The jointly built platform will be operated and managed by both parties and deployed on a fintech empowering platform developed by Lufax Holding.  The partnership aims to help address a gap in the Thai market, and accelerate the pace of digital transformation within the financial industry both in Thailand and across Southeast Asia.

In recent years, Lufax Holding has adopted big data, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and other emerging technologies to successfully develop a number of fintech solutions, some of which have already been rolled out – such as the investor suitability management system, a Know Your Intention (KYI) model that integrates the company’s deep experiences in financial operations, and strong research and development capabilities.

Lu International, one of Singapore’s first wealth management platforms providing end-to-end online account opening services and investment operations, is Lufax Holding’s first international arm, and since its 2017 establishment it has progressively extended its operations and market reach, which now spans several markets in Asia, with over 380,000 registered customers.

Lu Global is the online wealth management mobile platform operated by Lu International that offers customers round-the-clock access to a wide range of investments. Utilizing the technology developed by Lufax Holding, Lu Global has instated a robust risk management system that adopts strict Know Your Product (KYP) and Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance procedures, alongside an Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and anti-fraud system.

Kasikornbank, with its extensive customer base in Thailand of 17.3 million customers, including 12.7 million online users, has been actively promoting the digitization process in recent years and aims to provide a full range of financial services through digital platforms to its customers.

The world is about to enter another wave of digital disruption as big players such as commercial banks morph into fintech organizations notes Kattiya Indaravijaya, CEO of Kasikornbank. “It is imperative that we quickly adjust ourselves and strengthen our capabilities to seek new business opportunities, and we are ready to create a digital service platform to allow Thai individuals and businesses to go beyond borders to capitalize on massive opportunities in the ‘Era of Asia’.”