H&P lawyers in Bangkok have been approached by two important South East Asian companies to get assistance and guidance on E-Money License in Thailand during 2019. The definition of Electronic Money under Payment System Act B.E. 2560 (2017) is as follows: “Electronic card issued by a service provider to a service user, whether named or unnamed, whereby payment of money has been made to the service provider in advance for the purpose of making payment of prices of goods or services or any other charges in lieu of cash payment and the value or amount of the money so paid in advance is recorded”.
Electronic Money service can be categorized into 2 groups:
Firstly, Electronic money service that needs license, one of “Designated Payment Services” as prescribed under Notification of Finance Ministry.
Secondly, Electronic money service that must register with Bank of Thailand, E-money services with other payment purposes.
On Designated E-money Service under Notification of Finance Ministry, must apply for a license. This comprise of E-money services except payment for following purposes:
-Payment for goods and services or other payments providing to one service provider
-Payment for food and beverage at food court
-Payment for goods or digital content services under National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission regulation
-Payment for goods and services or other payments providing to multiple service providers with amount of advance payment left every month for an average 6 months’ worth less than THB 50 million and having one of following qualifications :
a)payment for goods and services with specific qualification or business under the same associate
b)payment for goods and services to stores located in the same area
c)payment for goods and services to stores which business operator having more than 50 percent shares of the company
On the license requirements our lawyers would like to point out that:
-Business Operator must be: Company limited or public company limited incorporated under Thai law with objective related to payment service system or Financial Institutions, Specialized Financial Institutions, State Enterprises
-Having paid-up capital worth more than THB 100 million
-Having stable financial and business status
-Never been partially or wholly suspended or revoked a license or registration under this Act
-Never been sentenced to imprisonment by a final court judgment for any offence relating to counterfeit and forgery, theft, snatching, extortion, blackmail, robbery, gang-robbery, defraud, cheating the creditor, embezzlement, receiving stolen property
-Having authorized directors with characteristics as follows: At least 20 years old and must not possessed any prohibited characteristics
-Having at least 1 Thai director with domicile in Thailand
On the registration requirements we would like to clarify that if E-money service does not meet any qualifications as Designated Payment service, then the business operator must register their business with BOT instead of applying for license. Registration requirements are the same as license’. However, there is no minimum paid-up capital as one of the requirements.
On the proceeding, we would distinguish three different main phases:
-Submit letter or e-mail requesting a meeting with BOT in order to discuss business plan with BOT office
-Submit documents required online in order for BOT officer to check all documents before submitting hard file
-Submit documents required at BOT
Note that the examination process takes approximately 100 days after submitting documents required with BOT.
If you require legal assistance an consultation on E-Money License in Thailand contact our H&P lawyers in Bangkok at [email protected]
