Thailand’s largest bank Kasikornbank is introducing a new digital payments platform by the end of 2017. The bank is taking up this measure to counter threats to fee income from rival transaction networks. Per a senior official bank, the intention is to have faster, easier and lower-cost online banking transactions. The bank is in talks with overseas financial technology companies to develop the payments platform. Thailand’s banks, including Kasikornbank and Siam Commercial Bank are boosting investments in digital banking systems as fintechs disrupt the lenders’ established business models. Siam Commercial Bank plans to spend about $1.1 billion over the next three years to build technology infrastructure to ramp up digital banking services and platforms.