Central Bank to Tighten Rules on Buy Now Pay Later
Thailand's central bank will require Buy Now Pay Later services to obtain licenses and comply with strict customer protection rules, as the sector has grown to serve 6 million users in four years. The bank is also tightening oversight of no
Vithaya Ratanakorn, Governor of the Bank of Thailand, announced at the Beyond ESG Thailand Transition seminar that the central bank is taking action to address structural economic issues. The bank has introduced measures in four key areas: reducing household and SME debt, expanding credit access, ensuring fair financial services, and tackling informal financial flows.
Two additional regulatory initiatives are being prepared. The first targets Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) businesses, which have grown tenfold over four years, expanding their user base from 600,000 to 6 million people. More than 45% of young people are now taking out their first loan through BNPL platforms. The central bank will require these businesses to obtain licenses under personal loan standards. Customer protection guidelines—covering age limits, loan amounts, and interest rates of 15-20%—are expected to be finalized in the fourth quarter. There are currently around six BNPL service providers operating in Thailand.
The second initiative focuses on non-bank financial institutions, of which there are 3,624 operating across 24 categories. These entities control 55% of total outstanding credit and 75% of all accounts, surpassing commercial and state banks combined, while charging overlapping fees and interest rates. The central bank will strengthen oversight due to the complexity of this sector.
To prevent money laundering, the central bank has implemented cash controls requiring high-value withdrawals of 5 million baht or more to be scrutinized, resulting in a significant 52% drop in large cash withdrawals in June. Starting October, deposits of 5 million baht or more will require disclosure of their source. Enhanced due diligence procedures have been expanded to cover high-risk patterns and digital assets such as USDT, with coordination from the Securities and Exchange Commission to monitor unusual trading volumes.
Gold withdrawal reporting is now required for purchases exceeding 10 million baht or 2 kilograms through mobile applications, leading to a 70% decrease in anomalous transactions in June. Ratanakorn noted that the tax mechanism on gold trading remains low—a 0.01% levy on 70,000 baht in transactions yields only 7 baht in taxes. Unregistered money laundering through gold trading now constitutes a criminal offense with enhanced penalties.
