Central Fraud Registry, coming soon to clean up Thai banking

Thailand‘s forthcoming Central Fraud Registry will be a new investigative authority, working alongside the Computer Emergency Response Team, a group of financial institutions focused on cybercrime in the banking industry. The new fraud registry will concentrate on financial fraud in the industry.

Thai Banking Association (TBA) chairman Payong Srivanich did not set a time frame for setting up the registry. Financial fraud is widespread in the Thai banking sector. A popular tactic is for fraudsters to use nominees to open deposit accounts and conduct transactions through them. The Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry is drafting tough measures to prevent cybercrime, including a plan to take swift action against such deposit accounts.

Payong said the TBA, Central Fraud Registry, DES Ministry, Royal Thai Police and others would collaborate on cybercrime and fraud.

In a separate matter, Payong said that exporters raised concerns about the strength of the baht against the dollar amid a slowdown of export growth this year.

So far this year, and it’s really only a few days, the baht has been the strongest currency against the greenback in the region, mainly down to a weaker dollar. This is a sign of hot money flowing into the Thai bond market, mainly for three-month local debentures, said Payong.

Industry leaders cannot determine whether foreigners investing in short-term bonds want to gain from baht speculation or are merely looking for a place to park their money while searching for other investment alternatives, he said.