Competition for the new virtual bank licences has intensified, with five business groups expressing interest in applying.
The Gulf consortium has already submitted its application, said Payong Srivanich, president of Krungthai Bank (KTB), which is partnering with Gulf Energy Development and PTT Group to apply for a licence.
With a robust ecosystem and a business plan aligned with central bank requirements, the consortium is optimistic about receiving approval for a licence, he said.
"Our consortium's virtual bank plan aims to reach unbanked and underbanked customers," said Mr Payong.
"Despite the higher credit risks associated with these segments, we believe that innovative technology will help manage these risks effectively."
Chartsiri Sophonpanich, president of Bangkok Bank (BBL), also expressed interest in virtual banking and said the bank is studying customer segmentation for underbanked and unbanked populations.
BBL plans to expand its customer base beyond middle-income segments to enhance financial inclusion, aligning with the era of digital transformation, he said.
However, Mr Chartsiri declined to comment on a potential partnership with BTS Group for a virtual bank licence, stating there was still time before the central bank's deadline.
The Bank of Thailand is closing applications for virtual bank licences on Thursday.
Among the other contenders, VGI, an advertising and financial services arm of BTS Group, recently indicated interest in virtual banking through a partnership with a major local financial institution.
Given the strong relationship between BBL and BTS Group, the former is expected to be a potential partner for this new venture.
CP Group intends to offer virtual banking through TrueMoney, a Southeast Asian e-payment and financial services provider, utilising CP's retail channels such as 7-Eleven and partnering with Ant Group, a Chinese company affiliated with Alibaba Group and a shareholder in CP's Ascend Group, which owns TrueMoney.
SCB X is collaborating with KakaoBank, South Korea's largest digital bank, to form a consortium to apply for a virtual bank licence. This consortium is also partnered with WeBank, a global digital bank known for its advanced technology.
Gulf is partnering with KTB, Advanced Info Service and PTT Oil and Retail Business.
Sea Group (Thailand), under the Singapore-based Sea Group, has also expressed interest in applying for a licence.
The company could leverage the large database of Shopee for virtual bank business operations.
Shopee, the leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, is owned by Sea Group.
Sea Group also operates MariBank, which has a full digital bank licence granted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.