BANGKOK, July 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — AI and Robotics Ventures (ARV), a leading developer, service provider, and venture builder of AI and Robotics technologies and a subsidiary of PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP), partners with Krungthai Bank Public Company Limited, Thailand’s leading financial institution, by signing an MOU to pilot ASEAN’s first National Corporate Identification (NCID) platform; a transformational solution that achieves an end to end Digital Identification for Corporates accessing any Financial service. NCID transforms the conventional know-your-customer (KYC) process between Corporates and financial institutions, by digitizing an otherwise paper-intensive and laborious process into one which is fast, efficient, transparent, and secure. A more efficient system of KYC unlocks new business opportunities for Financial Institutions and Corporates. NCID platform solves this problem of complex Corporate KYC process by leveraging the concepts of Web 3, Digital ID, Digital document creations and Digital Signatures.

Dr. Thana Slanvetpan, General Manager of AI and Robotics Ventures Company Limited (ARV) and Mr. Tawatchai Cheevanon, Senior Executive Vice President, Head of Global Transaction Banking Group, Krungthai Bank Public Company Limited, together signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), with Mr. Sumrid Sumneing, Executive Vice President, Finance and Accounting Group of PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP), joining the event to congratulate and witness the signing ceremony at ARV’s office at Bhiraj Tower, South Sathorn.

Dr. Thana Slanvetpan, General Manager of AI and Robotics Ventures Company Limited (ARV) said, "Conducting transactions between corporates and commercial banks is still plagued by a number of inefficiencies and limitations, including the reliance on paper-based documents and laborious manual processes. The ability to quickly, transparently, and reliably, verify digital-signatures together with its signing-authority in one single solution has been a limitation for juristic persons, inhibiting more widespread digital transformation."

"ARV foresaw this limitation for the industry, and set up a business unit called BIND an acronym for Bridging, Identity, Network and Data) to develop the NCID platform – adopting Web 3.0 technologies and principles such as SSI, interoperability, blockchain and cryptography, which are innovations to drive digital transformation and cybersecurity to the next level – as a solution to transform laborious paper-based processes into more streamlined, convenient, reliable, secure and scalable digital ones. NCID will enable business transactions between organizations to execute more swiftly and efficiently as it reduces operational process time and ensures the accuracy and security of data. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Krungthai Bank Public Company Limited paves way for the first commercial bank digital corporate KYC transaction for a bank-account-opening execution via the NCID platform, operating under the Digital Service Sandbox with supervision by the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA). The transaction is ASEAN’s first digital corporate KYC for corporate bank account opening. The project receives full support by all parties including PTTEP which is ARV’s parent company and ETDA. The MOU marks an important starting point for elevating transactions between Thai juristic persons and commercial banks, and unlocks numerous opportunities for further development of Thai digital infrastructure in the future," added Dr. Thana.

Mr. Tawatchai Cheevanon, Senior Executive Vice President, Head of Global Transaction Banking Group, Krungthai Bank Public Company Limited remarked about being the first partner to adopt the NCID platform in a real transaction and that, "The collaboration between Krungthai Bank and ARV reflects the commitment of both organizations to develop technology and innovation to increase efficiency and enhance the competitiveness of Thai business sectors. The NCID platform is clearly a game changer for financial transactions in the business sector. E-Document innovation and digital-ID solutions enhance the efficiency of document preparation, signing and affixing company seals in electronic format. It helps the bank to conduct non-face-to-face verification (digital corporate KYC) and signature verification in a highly convenient and swift manner, while still being able to ensure security, accuracy and integrity of data according to relevant international standards. This is a true collaboration between corporates and  commercial banks, which shorten the process time and simplifies execution of the transaction and verification of signed documents. Krungthai is currently the first bank to bring the NCID platform to support corporate account opening for a PTTEP subsidiary as the first transaction, and we plan to expand our collaboration to support other companies under PTT Group."

"Krungthai Bank will continue to develop technology and innovations to improve financial services in order to better meet the needs of all groups of customers every day, whether they are from public sector or private sector, or for the general public. We are ready to play an important role in strengthening the competitiveness of the Thai business sector under the new digitalized business world through the concept of empowering better life for all Thais," added Mr. Tawatchai.

Mr. Sumrid Sumneing, Executive Vice President Finance and Accounting Group of PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP), emphasized the success of this collaboration and stated that, "As the parent company of ARV, we are very pleased with the achievement of this milestone for the NCID project; it is one of the innovations developed to solve problems we faced at PTTEP, which is similar to other companies and commercial banks that have been facing this problem for a long time without a practical solution. PTTEP believes that the NCID platform will help transform the process of managing document-signing activities and enable the execution of financial transactions between juristic persons and banks with more convenience. It will also help promote the streamlining and effectiveness of business transactions while saving time and resources, all while also ensuring reliability and security of documents, and trust of end-to-end digital transactions."

Under this collaboration, Krungthai Bank has conducted a digital corporate KYC with a subsidiary under PTTEP group, and successfully opened a corporate account through the NCID platform. This success marks the first time in ASEAN that a corporate bank account has been opened in a digital format using Web3 technologies.

ARV with its business unit BIND is committed to building partnerships with all sectors for further development of the NCID platform, and hopes to jointly unlock endless digital transformation possibilities in the future. ARV welcomes all partners from both public and private sectors to pioneer and develop technology together. Interested organizations can contact us for more details via telephone at +662-078-4000 or via e-mail at [email protected]