briefs

Kasikornbank has opened bill-payment “fast lanes” at 750 branches nationwide, targeting 20-per-cent growth in fee receipts.

Pakorn Partanapat, executive vice president, said bill payments in Thailand totalled 370 million transactions a year. 

Of these, 31 per cent are through direct debiting, and the remainder through a variety of other service channels.

KBank believes that the bill-payment market has high growth potential. A KBank survey of customers utilising the bank branches indicates that customers would prefer a one-stop, fast bill-payment service.

 

Sansiri’s Chiang Mai project sells out

Sansiri has sold out Dcondo Campus Resort in Chiang Mai worth Bt960 million after its launch last week. 

Its first residential project in Chiang Mai has 546 units starting at Bt1.75 million per unit. 

This success has boosted its upcountry presales to Bt9.4 billion out of a presale total of Bt25.5 billion as of Sunday, company president Srettha Thavisin said.

 

Amway rebrands household products

Amway is rebranding its three household-product lines into one, called Amway Home. 

Kittawat Ritteerawee, managing director of Amway (Thailand), said the rebranding strategy was a reflection of consumers’ lifestyle changes, as people were more concerned about taking care of themselves, their families and their households. 

The trend of environmental consciousness has been growing, and the rebranding is aimed at underscoring Amway’s interest in respond-ing to this demand. As well, the plan is in line with the parent Amway’s global rebranding strategy. 

 

China to present its high-speed rail plan to Kingdom on October 20

The Chinese government will present to Thailand for consideration the result of its study of the proposed Bangkok-Chiang Mai and Bangkok-Nong Khai high-speed rail projects on October 20, Transport Ministry permanent secretary Silpachai Jarukasemrattana said yesterday after discussions with representatives from Beijing.

Under the plan, the trains on the Bangkok-Chiang Mai route could run at speeds of 300 kilometres per hour, while those on the Nong Khai route would do 250km/h, as the latter is designed to transport products and has no need for the higher speed. However, Thailand has determined the speed for the project at 250km/h. 

Silpachai said the ministry might have to reconsider what should be the appropriate speed, as in the next five years the standard for high-speed rail could be 300km/h. The difference in speed requires different investment costs. 

He added that the appropriate route should also be considered and many options would need to be looked at. According to the preliminary study, some parts would need tunnels as long as 7km, and this might not be approved by the parties in charge of environmental assessment.

 

S&P lowers ratings on Dhipaya Insurance 

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has lowered its local-currency long-term counterparty credit rating and insurer financial strength rating on Thailand-based Dhipaya Insurance to “BBB” from “BBB+”. The outlook is negative. At the same time, it lowered the Asean regional scale rating on Dhipaya to “axA-” from “axA+”.

It believes that Dhipaya’s capital position is unlikely to improve to levels that are commensurate with a “BBB+” rating. A significant increase in flood-related reinsurance assets and net loss reserves due to last year’s floods in Thailand has weakened Dhipaya’s capitalisation more than the agency expected. 

It anticipates a moderate improvement in capitalisation over the next 12-24 months to levels that are commensurate with a “BBB” rating because of potential earnings retention. 

 

SET may hit 1,300 after QE3, MFC predicts 

The SET Index could hit 1,300 points after the United States’ third round of quantitative easing (QE3), said MFC Asset Management.

It is convinced that Stock Exchange of Thailand by the end of this year will not fall below 1,220 points, thanks to strong economic fundamentals and positive earnings growth. MFC expects listed companies to show average earnings growth of 10-12 per cent next year, against 18-20 per cent this year.

MFC also foresees the likelihood that gold will hit US$2,000 per ounce in the next 12 months as a result of monetary easing, which encouraged investors to hedge against inflation. Statistically, QE1 led to a 30-per-cent spike in gold prices, while QE2 boosted them by 15 per cent. The asset-management firm expects QE3 to boost gold by 15 per cent. 

The metal was traded at $1,758.57 an ounce yesterday. HSBC Securities says there is a possibility that it could rally to $1,900 by year-end.