BANGKOK, THAILAND – At Thai cash machines, bank cards have quietly become the exception rather than the rule.
From lone card user to digital outlier
On a recent Monday morning inside a Thai bank branch, an air-conditioned line formed in front of the ATMs as an expatriate named Mika waited his turn. When he finally stepped up, he slid his blue ATM card into the slot, expecting nothing unusual.
Then he noticed he was alone in doing so. Of the six people withdrawing cash around him, not one used a physical card; every customer held up a smartphone, tapped a few times, scanned a QR code and collected their banknotes.
Mika later described his surprise in an online forum, writing that it was not spectacular, but that he was impressed by how thoroughly the smartphone had replaced the plastic card.
“I am against this total digitalisation and want to keep using the old card method for as long as I can.”
said Mika, a long-term expatriate in Thailand.
His experience illustrated a broader shift now reshaping how money moved in Southeast Asia. It raised questions about what was lost when the feel of cash and cards disappeared, and whether the smartphone was truly safer than the chip on a traditional card.
The rise of cardless withdrawal
Over the past five years, Thailand underwent one of the fastest digital transformations in banking worldwide. By 2025, so-called “cardless withdrawal” had turned from a niche feature into the standard way to get cash.
Almost every major Thai banking app, from Kasikorn Bank’s K PLUS to Bangkok Bank and SCB, placed the function prominently on its home screen. Users selected the amount in the app, pressed “Cardless” at the ATM, scanned the QR code and received their money within seconds.
The process eliminated PIN entry on worn keypads and fears that a machine might swallow a card. For many Generation Z and millennial customers, the plastic card had already become a nearly forgotten artefact.
How Thailand became a digital payments leader
Thailand’s shift did not happen overnight. In 2017, the government introduced PromptPay, a national payment infrastructure linking bank accounts to mobile phone numbers.
This system allowed even street vendors and small food stalls to accept digital payments without buying card terminals. A simple laminated QR code was enough to participate in the electronic economy.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the trend. Contactless payments were promoted for hygiene reasons, and the government distributed digital vouchers that could only be redeemed through banking apps. Within two years, use of digital payments in Thailand increased by more than 300 percent.
Why plastic cards are falling behind
Several practical reasons pushed customers away from cards. Many banks charged annual debit card fees between 200 and 500 Thai baht, costs that disappeared if customers relied solely on apps.
Cardless withdrawals also removed the risk of ATM skimming, which had long troubled tourists and expatriates when criminals tampered with machines to read magnetic stripes. Without a card, there was no stripe to copy.
For users who kept their cards, replacement fees for lost cards and express issuance charges added further micro-costs. Those who frequently used cards abroad faced foreign currency charges of 2.5 to 3.5 percent, while domestic PromptPay transfers within Thailand carried no such mark-ups.
The banking apps competing for Thailand’s users
Thai banks used their apps to differentiate themselves. Kasikorn Bank’s K PLUS was widely viewed as the market leader, combining cardless withdrawals with investment tools and insurance products.
Bangkok Bank emphasised its international reach, appealing to expatriates who sent money overseas. Siam Commercial Bank’s SCB Easy app leaned on gamification elements and cashback programmes to attract younger customers.
Smaller lenders such as Krungthai and TMB closed the gap by adding similar features. Intense competition drove up the overall quality of mobile banking, to the benefit of consumers.
Security versus convenience
The forum discussion that began with Mika’s post showed that not everyone celebrated the changes. Concerns extended beyond mere nostalgia for traditional banking.
Supporters pointed to security advantages. If a card was lost, a finder could often make small “tap-to-pay” purchases without a PIN, while access to a banking app on a smartphone was typically protected by face or fingerprint recognition and an additional code.
Sceptics like Mika argued that digital reliance introduced new vulnerabilities. They asked what would happen if a phone battery died or an internet connection failed, noting that a physical card still worked offline even if the ATM itself required network access.
Biometric checks and layered defences
Security also depended on how banks implemented digital safeguards. Modern smartphones used biometric authentication that was harder to fake than a four-digit PIN.
Thai banks added extra layers, including one-time passwords sent by SMS for larger transactions and real-time push notifications for every transfer. The combination of multiple checks made it more difficult for fraudsters to take over accounts.
However, risks such as phishing remained. Banks warned that users could still be tricked into entering credentials on fake websites, despite strong protections inside the official apps.
Fees and the hidden advantage of going app-only
Digital adoption was further encouraged through changes to fee structures. For years, withdrawing cash by card in another province triggered “inter-region” charges of 15 to 30 baht per transaction.
Many banks reduced or removed these fees for cardless withdrawals initiated through apps, effectively rewarding users who abandoned the card. Customers who continued to rely on plastic sometimes paid extra for what had become, in part, a nostalgic preference.
Additional costs, such as 100 to 200 baht for card replacement or up to 500 baht for urgent issuance, reinforced the financial argument against maintaining multiple physical cards.
Social pressure in the checkout line
Forum participants also described a social dimension to Thailand’s payment shift. A user writing under the name “Quake” complained humorously about shoppers at large supermarket chains who held up queues while fumbling with their banking apps.
Quake contrasted these “swipers”, who unlocked phones and searched for the right screen at the last moment, with customers counting out one-baht coins and waiting for change. In practice, the delays were similar, but he suggested that technological pauses felt more frustrating.
Despite such gripes, the speed of PromptPay meant that well-prepared QR payments were often faster than cash. For many retailers, digital transactions had already become the preferred option.
The psychology of tapping instead of paying cash
Behavioural researchers cited in the debate noted that people tended to spend more when paying digitally. Physically handing over banknotes could create a sense of loss that a quick swipe on a screen did not reproduce.
In Thailand, the ubiquity of PromptPay made small impulse purchases easier. Street snacks and drinks were just a scan away, and the amounts added up without the visual cue of a thinning wallet.
Some banking apps responded by offering budgeting tools that categorised outgoings and issued alerts when limits were breached. According to the discussion, however, relatively few users enabled these features.
Generational divides in digital banking
Acceptance of app-based finance varied sharply by age. Thais under 40 generally embraced mobile banking enthusiastically.
Older citizens, by contrast, often struggled with smartphone interfaces and preferred visiting branches or using ATMs with a card. Banks offered training sessions, but a digital divide persisted.
A smaller group of technically confident seniors emerged as some of the strongest proponents of the new tools. They appreciated the ability to avoid queues in the heat outside traditional branches.
Virtual banks on the horizon
The next phase of Thailand’s transition was already taking shape. The Bank of Thailand signalled that it planned to grant the first licences for fully virtual banks in 2025 and 2026.
These institutions would have no physical branches or proprietary ATMs, relying entirely on digital interfaces. Scenarios like Mika’s, where the card user felt like a “dinosaur”, were expected to become routine.
According to the forum discussion, it was likely that banks would progressively increase card issuance fees to steer customers towards apps. Environmental arguments about reducing plastic waste were seen as helpful talking points, even if efficiency and data were the primary drivers.
Tourists and expatriates in a digital-first system
The cardless ecosystem was not equally accessible to everyone. Thai nationals and long-term residents with local accounts were deeply integrated into the digital infrastructure.
Short-term tourists, especially from Europe, were often still dependent on conventional credit cards and ATMs that charged around 220 baht per withdrawal. While some regional wallet apps from countries such as South Korea and Malaysia could already make QR payments in Thailand, visitors from other regions had fewer options.
Expats with appropriate visas could open Thai accounts but sometimes faced lengthy procedures, additional documentation requirements or minimum deposit thresholds.
Central bank oversight and innovation
Thailand’s central bank played a central role in shaping the country’s digital payment landscape. The Bank of Thailand (BoT) regulated not only monetary policy but also the technological trajectory of the financial sector.
The BoT imposed strict security standards on banking apps, requiring penetration tests and regular security audits to maintain approval. These rules were designed to build public trust.
At the same time, the BoT promoted innovation through regulatory sandboxes where fintech start-ups could test new services under supervision. This balance between control and experimentation helped position Thailand as a regional leader.
Is digital really greener?
Environmental arguments also entered the debate over abandoning plastic cards. Each card was made of PVC, a material that did not biodegrade and carried environmental costs in production and disposal.
Smartphones, however, also left a significant ecological footprint, from rare earth extraction to energy use and the challenge of electronic waste. The comparison was not straightforward.
Forum contributors noted that because people already owned smartphones for many purposes, the additional impact of using them for banking was relatively small. Reductions in paper statements and unused cards tilted the balance in favour of digital channels.
Cyber risks and bank responses
Growing digitalisation brought expanded cybersecurity risks. Attackers constantly developed new methods to compromise apps or deceive users.
Phishing, often via fake SMS or email messages linking to counterfeit banking websites, remained the most common threat. Thai banks invested in public education campaigns to warn customers against entering credentials on suspicious pages.
To guard against more technical attacks, institutions employed end-to-end encryption and certificate pinning to protect communications between apps and servers. These measures aimed to make man-in-the-middle attacks significantly harder.
What happens when the system fails?
Reliance on technology raised another concern: outages. In recent years, several large Thai banks reportedly experienced hours-long disruptions.
During such failures, customers could neither access their apps nor complete digital payments. In those moments, a physical backup card proved its value as a last resort.
Experts in the forum discussion advised a hybrid approach. They recommended using the app for daily transactions while keeping a card in a secure place, such as a hotel safe, in case of emergencies.
Thailand in the regional race to go cashless
Participants compared Thailand’s progress with developments elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Singapore’s PayNow system offered a similar model of bank-linked mobile transfers.
Indonesia promoted services such as GoPay and OVO, which supported millions of digital payments across everyday purchases. Vietnam saw explosive growth in mobile wallets like Momo and ZaloPay, which were used for everything from street food to rent.
Malaysia, despite comparable economic conditions, was perceived as lagging behind due to regulatory and cultural factors. Against this backdrop, Thailand stood out for the speed and breadth of its digital shift.
Reluctant holdouts in an irreversible trend
The story of Mika’s ATM visit became a symbol of Thailand’s rapid modernisation, which in some respects outpaced developments in parts of Europe. In the forum, users remarked that while card payments could still draw sceptical looks at German bakeries, customers in Bangkok risked being seen as outdated if they did not pay by phone.
Supporters highlighted three main advantages of the app-centric system: greater safety from skimming, lower costs through reduced fees and the convenience of a device that was always at hand. Critics pointed to emotional attachment to tangible money and worries about technical reliability.
Forum contributors concluded that resistance to the trend was understandable but unlikely to change its direction. Those clinging to cards risked feeling increasingly out of place at ATMs.
Practical steps for going cardless
For users considering the switch, the discussion offered practical advice. It suggested installing the bank’s app on a modern smartphone with sufficient storage and enabling all available security options.
Recommended measures included biometric logins, instant transaction notifications and a dedicated app PIN different from the device’s main code. These steps aimed to limit damage if a phone was lost or stolen.
Participants also advised testing cardless withdrawals with small sums at nearby ATMs during quiet times. This allowed customers to become comfortable with the process before relying on it in busy queues.
At the end of the forum-based article, the editors noted that exchange rates and fees reflected conditions as of late 2025 and could change quickly. They recommended keeping at least one physical card as a backup in a secure place in case the digital system failed.