The Bank of Thailand (BoT) is planning to improve mobile banking security measures by limiting certain groups of people, such as teenagers and the elderly, from transferring more than 50,000 THB (1,500 USD) per day.
According to local media, a source from the Thai Bankers Association said the BoT has completed accepting public feedback on the amendment of its regulations.
The amendment is to enhance the security of financial services by tightening the restrictions on outgoing transfers via mobile banking apps, the Bangkok Post reported on January 1.
For some account holders, such as the elderly and those under 15 years old, the central bank wants to have a restriction in place so they cannot transfer more than 50,000 THB per day because they are considered vulnerable groups and may be easily persuaded by fraudsters.
Furthermore, banks that offer mobile banking services must improve the steps of mobile banking transactions by including face recognition technology and biometric forgery detection in circumstances where money transfers surpass 50,000 THB at a time or a total of more than 200,000 THB (2,800 USD) a day.
The BoT also wants to mandate mobile banking service providers to create technology that prevents their mobile apps from being corrupted with malware or hacked in order to prevent customer information leaks. It does not want mobile banking apps to work on jailbroken cellphones or those running an old operating system because this allows criminals to remotely manage the devices, said the source.
The source said the central bank is likely to announce these measures within this month and will require non-bank service providers under its supervision to raise the same standards by the first quarter of this year./.
