Thailand has granted its first virtual bank operating licence to the Clicx bank consortium, paving the way for the country’s first digital-only banking institution under the Bank of Thailand’s newly adopted virtual banking framework.
According to Fintech News Singapore, the Bank of Thailand granted the licence on 14 May 2026, making Clicx the first approved virtual bank applicant in the country to secure an operating licence. The finance minister also approved commercial banking and regulated payment services for the entity, which is backed by Krungthai Bank, Advanced Info Service (AIS), and PTT Oil and Retail Business (the “OR” unit of the state-owned PTT Group) in a consortium that brings together banking, telecommunications, and energy retail expertise.
Clicx plans to serve underserved customers with irregular income or limited traditional financial records, including gig workers, small merchants, new workers, and other financially excluded segments. The bank will rely on artificial intelligence and non-traditional data sources to assess customer creditworthiness, incorporating data linked to everyday behaviour and service usage. This marks a significant departure from conventional collateral-based lending models that have long excluded large swathes of the Thai population from formal financial services.
Thailand approved three virtual bank applications in June 2025: the ACM Holding consortium, the Krungthai-AIS-OR consortium, and the SCB X-WEBANK-KakaoBank consortium. The regulator has allowed additional time for setup beyond the original one-year timeline, with Bank of Thailand Governor Vitai Ratanakorn indicating that at least two virtual banks should begin operations by the end of 2026. Clicx plans to launch services next month. Its approval marks a decisive progression in Thailand’s ambition to deepen financial inclusion through digital banking innovation, while establishing key precedents for AI-driven underwriting and alternative credit scoring in Southeast Asia.