Bangkok (VNA) – Electronic money (e-money) hasgrown in terms of spending and top-up value, driven by consumers' financialbehaviour in the digital age and social distancing amid the COVID-19 pandemic,local media reported.

According to the Bank of Thailand, e-money spending valuehas continued to increase in the Southeast Asian nation for the past fiveyears. In 2020, the value was 310 billion baht (nearly 10 billion USD), risingfrom 90.9 billion baht in 2016.

The value stemmed largely from non-bank companies, whichcontributed 276 billion baht, or 88.3 percent, last year.

The top-up value of e-money in 2020 tallied 314 billionbaht, increasing from 91.5 billion in 2016. Last year 88 percent of the totaltop-up value was from non-bank companies.

There are 30 e-money service providers licensed by thecentral bank, of which 23 are non-bank companies.

Atis Ruchirawat, chairman of Credit Card Club, a unitunder the Thai Bankers' Association, said e-payment via all tools, especiallydigital payment, surged during the pandemic. Thai consumers became familiarwith digital payment during the pandemic and many of them will not return totraditional payment, he said.

During this transition, omnichannel, which covers bothoffline and online, is a solution for Thais, he said.

Visa, the world's leader in digital payments, last monthunveiled its survey about consumer payment attitude in Thailand.

The survey found four out of five Thais (80 percent) havetried going cashless. The pandemic also prompted non-users to choose contactlesspayments over cash. Mobile contactless was most used among first-timers at 26percent, followed by contactless cards (23 percent) and QR code (21 percent).

The study also showed the pandemic accelerated the paceat which Thailand is becoming a cashless society, with payment innovationplaying an increasingly important role in people's daily lives.

Vis🦩a estimated Thailand could become a ca൲shless societyby 2026, several years ahead of a previous projection of 2030./.