Thai Finance Firms Demand Human Oversight as AI Automates Operations
Thai financial institutions are adopting artificial intelligence to speed up lending, insurance underwriting, and investment advice, but executives say machines cannot make final decisions without human review. The consensus emerged at the Asian Banking and Finance and Insurance Asia Summit 2026 in Thailand, where bank and insurance leaders outlined where AI adds value and where it must stop.
The immediate applications are practical: removing paperwork, automating repetitive checks, improving frontline decisions, and responding faster to customers. But the boundary is clear. Human judgment remains required for credit approvals, investment recommendations, and policy issuance.
Credit Decisions in Minutes
ShopeePay Thailand has digitized its entire credit process, from application through collections. The company uses alternative data and AI to assess borrowers within its ecosystem and can issue new loans within five minutes, provided customers pass know-your-customer and underwriting rules.
For identity verification, ShopeePay uses AI and optical character recognition. More than 90% of customers receive instant decisions, according to Chanitha Supavivat, Thailand head of Credit Business and Operations at ShopeePay Thailand.
Speed matters in Thailand, where digital finance is already mainstream. The Bank of Thailand publishes monthly payment data indicators tracking fund transfers and payments across channels.
Risk controls show why automation cannot work alone. After scam losses reached $0.09 billion in June 2025, the Bank of Thailand imposed tiered online transfer limits, including 50,000 Thai baht for many users, depending on risk profile. Machines flag suspicious activity; humans make the call.
Insurance Underwriting Remains Complex
Life insurance is harder to automate than non-life products because underwriting and policy issuance require more customer information. Thai Life Insurance Company Limited is building an "instant policy insurance" capability where customers receive immediate responses after purchase, according to Montree Thirasakthanam, Executive Vice President and head of Technology and Innovation.
The goal matters. Thailand's life insurance market recorded $10.14 billion in total premiums in the first half of 2025, up 4.87% year-on-year. Growth depends on customer persistence and renewal rates, which reached 82% in that period.
Ocean Life Insurance Public Company Limited is applying AI closer to the sales and service journey. The company launched AI tools for salespeople to personalize customer engagement and help frontline staff understand customers directly, reducing reliance on central analytics teams.
Ornusa Khowvadisai, Senior Vice President for Digital Transformation and acting Chief Operating Officer at Ocean Life Insurance, said AI should benefit both customers and the company. "We don't talk about what we face, but we talk about what can sustain the customer to be with us," she said.
Advisory Work Requires Human Judgment
Wealth and private banking differ from lending because advisers must understand customer profiles, risk appetite, and financial needs before recommending products. Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited focuses on using AI to turn data into actionable next steps: suitable products, portfolio adjustments, and model recommendations.
But advice cannot be fully delegated to machines. Cholathee Pornrojnangkool, Senior Vice President for Wealth & Private Bank at Bangkok Bank, said human and AI must work together. "We are not looking for faster response time or faster service, but we want to provide better service, and probably at a lower cost," he said.
Where AI Adds Value
A 2025 Roots report on insurance AI adoption found that common benefit areas include underwriting, claims processing, fraud detection, customer service, and risk assessment. More than 80% of respondents identified AI as a top strategic initiative for 2025.
The pattern across Thai finance is consistent: AI reduces manual work, routes exceptions to humans, and improves service quality. But the final judgment stays with people.
For more on AI for Finance and AI for Insurance, see our dedicated resources.
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