The Bank of Thailand (BOT), the country’s central bank, is preparing a fresh round of rules that will bring stablecoins, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services and large gold purchases under closer supervision. The five measures are expected to take effect between November 2026 and March 2027.
According to FinTech Singapore, Governor Witai Rattanakorn set out the plans, which also include lower fees for credit bureau enquiries and stricter supervision of money changers. On gold, the central bank intends to restrict cash settlement of purchases worth more than THB 10m.
Beyond these steps, BOT expects to increase scrutiny of non-bank lenders, payment firms, foreign exchange businesses and asset managers, since these sectors are expanding and becoming more complex.
The new package builds on 18 measures rolled out over the last twelve months, which focused on household debt, funding for small businesses, consumer protection and illegal financial activity. Among them, BOT imposed tighter controls on cash dealings of THB 5m and above.
The bank says the value of cash withdrawals has since fallen by more than 57% relative to January 2026. Separately, a requirement to report daily withdrawals of physical gold above two kilograms coincided with a drop of over 85%. BOT also reduced charges on 19 financial services, a change it estimates could save households and companies as much as THB 8bn each year.
As Thailand’s central bank, BOT has been pursuing a broad agenda covering household indebtedness and small business credit. Its debt relief scheme run with Sukhumvit Asset Management has reached more than 182,000 non-performing loan accounts, close to this year’s goal of 200,000. The bank has also held the minimum credit card repayment at 8%, a decision intended to help around two million borrowers.
For small and medium-sized enterprises, the SMEs Credit Boost scheme has enabled lending of more than THB 80bn. A companion programme, SMEs Secure Plus, lets lenders weigh alternative forms of collateral together with a borrower’s cash flow.
In January 2027, BOT intends to open an SMEs Credit Portal to match businesses with lenders. This forms one part of a wider strategy that includes new credit guarantees, an Alternative Data Exchange and efforts to increase competition among SME lenders.
Copyright © 2026 RegTech Analyst
Copyright © 2026 RegTech Analyst
