“When we decided to start this business, we saw that so many competitors in Thailand put up fake price quotes,” he says
The msii team
Like in any other markets in the world, trust is a major factor that holds back the growth of the tech startup industry in Thailand. People still depend on social sites likes Facebook and Instagram to buy products online, rather than directly purchasing through e-commerce platforms.
This trust deficit has affected other tech verticals as well, including fintech. This is why companies operating in this sector couldn’t make much headway, with some exceptions.
masii, a fintech company, is determined to address the trust deficit factor. The startup, with the backing of B.Grimm, a 138-year-old multi-billion dollar Thai conglomerate, has launched an online financial products comparison platform that offers credit cards, car insurance, hotel cards, and personal loans. The company, which is integrating new-age tech like AI to its platform, clocked 40,000 applications for credit cards and car insurance last month alone. masii, which was co-founded by Maxwell Meyer (a US native), Matthias Jürgens (German) and Tom Kiatcheeranun (Thai), claims to have beaten long-time players like Goldman Sachs-backed MoneyGuru to become the second major player in Thailand.
e27 spoke to Meyer to know more about the company and the fintech market in Thailand.
Edited excerpts:
Thai people are more adept at social commerce and don’t trust online transactions. In this scenario, where do you see big opportunities for your online financial products in Thailand?
We think Thai people are so adept at using social commerce platforms because there is just so much friction from traditional platforms like online direct channels, even the newest of which are using old technologies and archaic platforms architecture (i.e. slow and not-integrated). For our customers who want to chat before they buy, we have that option, but overwhelming data from other industries and markets show that Thais more than anything want a streamlined, fully-online experience.
Most banks in Thailand have an online presence. So why a customer would go and buy a product on your site rather than directly from the bank?
Just how nearly every hotel in Asia has a direct booking option, it’s much better for the customer to have a fully transparent, one-stop comparison of all deals out there before booking. Thus, the outstanding success of platforms like Agoda.com and Booking.com. There’s really no one else in the market who shows the customer truly unbiased and accurate credit card and car insurance comparisons (some of the competitors show fake numbers, and when it comes to “buy” the price jumps). We built masii to be unbiased, and to benefit the customer.
Trust is still a major challenge when it comes to online transactions. How do you address this?
Most Thai people still feel more safe to buy insurance from people that they know or talk directly to a call centre, and a lot of this is due to the platforms which publish outdated, inaccurate, or just false prices. We can’t change it overnight, but we are absolutely committed to providing accurate, trustworthy, unbiased car insurance and credit card deals so that we never lose the trust of our customers.
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We work extremely hard to make sure every quote that shows up on masii is as real and accurate as possible. When we decided to start this business, we saw that so many competitors in the region put up fake price quotes, or simply their tech wasn’t integrated enough with the partner side to compare with an accurate price. How would you feel if you click to book a US$50 hotel to suddenly have the price jump to US$200? Price compare sites are useless unless they show real prices.
We don’t use flashy gimmicks to try and build trust. We are building a long-term relationship with masii users based on provide truly accurate, unbiased information.
Our partner, B.Grimm, is one of the oldest and most reputable conglomerates in Thailand, and it’s our first priority to do business with high integrity, both for our customers and masii’s insurance and banking partners.
Banks in Thailand are also launching fintech products, while at the same time they are looking to partner with fintech companies. Do you regard them as a threat or as a partner?
In no way do we see banks as a threat – quite the opposite. We can’t live without them, and going forward they can’t live without us. Our fates are determined by the Thai customer who, research suggests, regards price comparison as the No. 1 most desired factor when buying car insurance or credit cards online. Thai customers now and especially in the next years will demand unbiased comparison sites like ours, just as they demand high quality products that are provided by masii’s partners.
While most of the other markets in SEA have come a long way forward in terms of fintech growth, Thailand is yet to pick up pace. Why? Are you looking at these markets?
The buying behaviour we observe from Thai customers is among the most sophisticated, not just in ASEAN, but worldwide. They check multiple sources, they are sophisticated and shrewd deal hunters.
Maxwell Meyer, Co-founder of masii
I’m going to be a bit controversial and say that I think narratives about “Thailand falls behind” are completely wrong. In reality, Thai customers are just much much smarter than the websites out there. How can we expect some of the most savvy users of social media in the world to be content with making a significant financial purchase like a credit card or car insurance from a website that has 10-year-old looking UI, quotes prices that are inaccurate, and requires a call to a big call centre with 30 minute wait times? The burden is on us to catch up to the customer, not the other way around.
We think throwing together low-quality websites in as many countries as possible is fundamentally bad business, and terrible for the customer. Right now we’re obsessed with making masii’s Thailand offering as unbiased, comprehensive, and beneficial to our customers as possible before we venture out. This is probably why our data suggest masii’s user engagement and customer satisfaction are absolute best practice in the region.
What are the peculiar characteristics of an ordinary Thai customer when buying online?
One of the reasons we were so attracted to the space is our observation that Thai people compare up to 12 different prices before buying car insurance and nine quotes before buying credit cards. Compare that to three for the US, and you see the true need for a real, unbiased comparison site like masii.
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