The National Savings Fund (NSF) has teamed up with an e-commerce giant to provide a platform for deposits and withdrawals of members' savings.
Speaking after a memorandum of understanding signing between the NSF and ShopeePay (Thailand) Co on Monday, Deputy Finance Minister Paopoom Rojanasakul said this collaboration expands the channels for providing savings services and NSF membership registration through the ShopeePay app, allowing an NSF target group to access savings opportunities more conveniently in the digital age.
E-commerce has become an integral part of Thailand’s economy, while ShopeePay is used by millions of Thais to buy and sell goods, supporting small and independent businesses, said Mr Paopoom.
“This collaboration is a significant step forward as it brings together the country’s main savings agency and a large e-commerce platform with many users. The agreement will enable ShopeePay to offer NSF membership registration, the ability to make contributions and access other services, such as paying instalment savings or contributing to other savings products, such as the retirement lottery,” he said.
“The agreement includes money transfer services as directed by the NSF, such as refunds to members and other savings projects in line with the fund’s goals.”
The NSF is amending the law to enable the issuance of the retirement lottery, which is a savings initiative aimed at supporting retirement plans with the added incentive of cash prizes.
The draft amendment is expected to be submitted to parliament this month, according to the fund.
Once the law comes into effect, the retirement lottery is expected to generate savings of up to 13 billion baht annually, according to Mr Paopoom.
Since 2015, the government has promoted the NSF as a source of retirement savings for informal sector workers.
In 10 years of operation, 2.8 million informal sector workers have registered as members, out of roughly 20 million informal workers nationwide. Total fund assets now amount to 14.5 billion baht.
The NSF portfolio allocated 80% to debt instruments and 20% to equities. Last year, the fund generated a return of roughly 2%.
