With the news in the past 2 weeks that the major Thai banks are going to be removing transaction fees (finally!) for all digital (i..e internet and mobile) transactions their stock prices have taken a plunge with TMB being the worst hit, despite it not being one of these banks announcing the waiver in fees.

So what? Analysts have assumed that an average of 5% of net profits for the four big boys (BBL, SCB, KBANK, KTB) will be gone and need to be replaced by other avenues.

The natural question now becomes at what point do they become attractive, to this I can only think that if you’re seeing a decline in growth, a decline in profitability, declining ROE’s..well unless they drop below BV one could be stuck for years.

BBL, SCB and KBank permanently removed the fees for inter-bank and cross-clearing zone money transfers, bill payments and top-up services through the digital platform, while KTB plans to offer the services for free until the end of this year. 

Source: Bangkok Post