Visa International's country manager in Thailand, Somboon Krobteeranon, has a vision of a country where everyone has a plastic card to make their everyday payments.

"I want to see Thai people at all levels, with high or low purchasing power, holding a plastic card. It wouldn't be only a credit card; it might be a debit card, a cash card or a charge card. I hope to see Thai farmers paying for their fertilizer by plastic card," he says.

If anyone is to be regarded as a pioneer of Thailand's card payment system, it is Somboon. Aged 46, he has been in the card business for 12 of the 13 years since the first plastic card flipped across a Thai counter. He believes the business is now quite successful in Thailand, but he's quick to emphasise that there's plenty of room for improvement, particularly by giving more Thai people access to card payment systems.

Although it might be some years before Somboon's vision of universal card use is realised, he feels sure it is possible, if all parties cooperate. And by "all parties" he means organisations like Visa International, which he says will continue to improve its services, along with the government, financial institutions, and Thai consumers.

He says electronic payments will lead to more transparency and create an economic system free of distortion. As a result, it will help to develop the country's economy.

"Once the country's payment systems are conducted with transparency, we can assess financial issues with more clarity, particularly in the retail business," Somboon explains. Therefore, he maintains that his idea of giving all Thai people access to card payment systems is not stretching the possibility too far.

Visa International set up its Thailand bureau in 1995, one year after the card payment business arrived in the Kingdom with the introduction of the first credit cards. Somboon was approached by Visa International Singapore to become the member relationship manager at the Thailand office.

In the beginning, Visa Thailand had a staff of only two: Somboon and his assistant. He had to be a business consultant, a trainer, even a technician.

"At that time, credit cards were a new product and people didn't understand the card payment system, so we needed assistance from all parties. One time there were problems between a department store and a credit-card user about the signature on her card. I had to drop everything and go to the department store to clear her payment. I also had to study the business and read a lot of textbooks about it. It's quite a lot harder than studying at university," he says.

In the beginning, Visa Thailand had only eight or nine members. The plastic-card business was really kicked off by banks providing charge cards. A few banks also offered credit card loans, but credit cards were usually found in the hands of foreign travellers, using them as a convenient means of payment.

"For Thai consumers, credit cards were offered to people of high net worth, mainly because they had high purchasing power. Therefore, in the beginning, credit cards were a financial product for rich people," Somboon says.

The credit-card business was fully fledged in about 1996 or 1997. Visa Thailand's membership was growing, and Somboon's position was upgraded to country manager.

Now, after 12 years at Visa Thailand and nine of them in the bureau's top position, Somboon has become something of a symbol of Visa International's presence in Thailand.

All of Visa's country managers are similar figureheads because of a policy of promoting local people to the top jobs, based on the belief that they normally understand the country's consumers best. Some of them stay in the position until retirement. That is not one of Somboon's ambitions. Although he has no current plans to step down, he says he has other dreams to follow. Besides which, there are other capable Thai people who can replace him.

"We shouldn't hold on to the position, or it will become a weak point for the company. If unexpected things occur, then there should be successors to take over the work," he says.

Somboon believes friendliness and an ability to compromise have led to his achievements for an international firm, but he insists that there's another side to his character that holds to absolute principles. A high code of conduct has also played a prominent role in his success, he says.

Somruedi Banchongduang

The Nation