UOB (Thai) upbeat on transaction banking
United Overseas Bank (Thai) projects that its totalsolution transaction banking business will help double its corporateclient base in three to five years.
Pipat Assamongkol, executive director for transaction banking, said these services covered cash management, payroll, internal transfers, cheque collection and cheque payment. Use of transaction banking has increased because of the convenience and comprehensiveness of the service.
UOB (Thai) has attempted to increase the number of customers using transaction banking and boost revenue by offering a package with one price.
The package can save corporate customers 8090 per cent in costs, he said.
After the parent bank launched the package, the number of customers increased by hundreds of thousands, he said.
The target of UOB (Thai) transaction banking within three to five years is to double the number of corporate customers from 50,000 firms currently.
He said 30 per cent of revenue from transaction banking was fee income and the rest interest income.
Revenue from transaction banking this year is expected to grow by 30 per cent, and it aims to maintain growth of 30 per cent per year.
Pipat said the bank was organising seminars upcountry to promote the UOB (Thai) brand among corporate firms in the provinces beyond Greater Bangkok.
“We want to increase the proportion of provincial customers because the competition in the provinces is not as intense as in the Central region. Moreover, UOB (Thai) considers corporate firms in the provinces an emerging market for us to penetrate and increase our customer base,” he said.
He added that the concept of transaction banking had changed from serving only international companies and large local firms to serving mediumsized companies and small enterprises as well. Therefore, the bank has divided its sales force in two, to capture larger firms and mediumsized to small companies.
Pipat said UOB had a network in the region and was positioning itself as a premier regional bank, so it could assist Thai firms in many tradetransaction services including currency settlements.
Based in Singapore, United Overseas Bank also has branches in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
