I don't really like the idea of biometrics being included in anything that I do. I just don't like the idea of every little aspect of my life being so trackable. In banking I suppose there is some benefit because it would make it even more difficult for someone to steal your money or use your cards but it's just the whole concept of being tracked that I don't like.
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This was announced by the Bank of Thailand, which governs all the rules for the private banks of the country. This government-run body doesn't really have its own branches, it just makes the rules that all of them must follow - which is something I find strange but there are a lot of things in Thailand that I don't understand.
The order was issued recently and at first at least, it will only apply to transfers of 50,000 Baht or more - which is about $1500 - or to daily transfers of over 200,000 Baht.
That all seems fine and dandy at first but this is only going to apply to private individuals, not to corporations and the reasoning behind this is that corporation transactions are too frequently in excess of this amount and would create problems for the businesses.
I don't have a problem with preventing fraud and my life would be seriously upended if all of a sudden 200,000 Baht went missing from my account especially since I have less than that amount in my account right now. I do have a problem with the government deciding to do this and making it MANDATORY. If a bank wanted to implement this tech and made it voluntary for the customers whether or not they wanted to use it, I would be all for it. When a government makes is compulsory to take part in it, it starts to feel like data collection to me and as someone who has read plenty of Orwellian type books, I am not interested in the big brother watching everything that I do.
I am also concerned that the 50,000 transaction biometric limit is just a starting point and if the program is successful - as in if it works at all which in Thailand biometric programs tend to not work - that they will continue to lower that amount threshold until it encompasses all transactions of any sort. Combine this with the fact that more and more businesses are encouraging electronic payments and we will soon have every move, every purchase, every everything that we do watched by big brother. I'm not interested in that.
Thankfully Thailand has an excellent track record of having really grandiose ideas that they later discover requires a lot of technology, servers, and very intelligent people in order to maintain them. These plans, such as the QR Covid plan that failed within weeks of its unveiling normally just quietly disappear into the night.