Fintech 2026

THAILAND LAW AND PRACTICE Contributed by: Wongsakrit Khajangson, Panupan Udomsuvannakul, Koraphot Jirachocksubsin and Pitchaya Roongroajsataporn, Chandler Mori Hamad a

various aspects of the underwriting processes of busi - ness operators. In particular, the sale and offering of insurance products are heavily regulated. Given the extent of insurance regulation, insurtechs commonly face a number of legal obstacles. Recog - nising these constraints and simultaneously trying to promote innovation in the industry, the OIC, the insur - ance industry’s regulating entity, launched the OIC insurance regulatory sandbox and set up the Centre of InsurTech Thailand to promote insurtech. 8.2 Treatment of Different Types of Insurance There are two applicable regulatory regimes: • the life insurance regime under the Life Insurance Act B.E. 2535 (1992), which covers life and annui - ties; and • the non-life insurance regime under the Non-Life Insurance Act B.E. 2535 (1992) which covers prop - erty and casualty. Many aspects of these acts are similar, but the licenc - es for life insurance and non-life insurance business - es are separate, and the same legal entity may not engage in both types of business. There are no overarching regulations that govern regtech generally. Whether regtech providers are sub - ject to any regulations needs to be analysed case- by-case. Currently, in Thailand, an area considered one of the most advanced in regtech development is electronic authentication and verification of identity (e-KYC). After the amendment to the Electronic Transactions Act, authentication and verification of identity in elec - tronic form became recognised and admitted under Thai law. Electronic Identity Verification The BOT has also adopted electronic authentication and identity verification to open accounts with finan - 9. Regtech 9.1 Regulation of Regtech Providers

cial institutions. Previously, financial institutions had to conduct know-your-customer (KYC) processes on a face-to-face basis (physical KYC). Non-face-to-face KYC has been accepted in practice since the relevant notification of the BOT was adopted. Financial insti - tutions can perform electronic KYC for customers to open accounts via online platforms. In addition to electronic KYC, another central plat - form in Thailand is the National Digital ID Platform (the “NDID Platform”). This system collects customers’ information for use by any financial institution to verify customers. The NDID Platform is thus an important system for Thai financial institutions to use to verify their customers, and many banks in Thailand have decided to use it to facilitate the KYC process. 9.2 Contractual Terms to Ensure Performance and Accuracy The contractual terms of use of service provided by a third party may also be regulated, depending on the type of business. Theoretically, certain functions that are not the main activities of financial service provid - ers (which normally require a licence, approval or reg - istration) can be outsourced to a third party. For instance, pursuant to BOT Notification No SorNor - Sor 16/2563 Re: Regulations on the Use of Services from Business Partners of Financial Institutions, in order to use the services of a business partner, the financial institution must create guidelines on risk management and customer protection. Moreover, all strategic functions must be carried out directly by the financial institutions themselves. In addition, the finan - cial institutions also have to submit an annual report to the BOT on the use of services provided by business partners that may cause significant risks to – or have an impact on – the public at large. With respect to IT outsourcing, financial institutions have to comply with third-party guidelines on risk management implementation. These cover issues such as risk governance, third-party risk management and reporting obligations to the BOT. Non-regulated contractual terms largely depend on the commercial issues and other regulations that may specifically apply to that financial institution.

869 CHAMBERS.COM