New TCRB management lays out strategy
Thai Credit Retail Bank is in talks with new partners about taking a stake in the bank after it recently restructured its management team.
Winyou Chaiyawan, the new chief executive officer, and new managing director Roy Gunara will lead the development of a new strategy to focus on small business and microfinance.
Thai Life Insurance Group, the existing shareholder, will increase paid-up registered capital from Bt2 billion to Bt3 billion, of which Bt500 million will be injected this year and Bt500 million next year, Winyou said in the bank’s statement yesterday.
TCRB’s capital adequacy ratio is now at 12.95 per cent, well over the 8.5-per-cent minimum required by the Bank of Thailand.
Winyou has been working as a manager at Thai Life Group, a major shareholder of TCRB, for the past 10 years and was an executive director of Thai Cardif Life Assurance.
In the past six years, the bank’s lending has been growing for housing, automobiles and small and medium-sized enterprises.
These segments are highly competitive and dominated by larger banks.
TCRB believes that there are plenty of opportunities in small business and microfinance, which are not yet the focus of larger banks.
Niche player
The new management with expertise in small business and risk management hopes to build TCRB into a leading niche player.
As of September, TCRB had total assets of Bt24 billion, mainly in housing, auto, gold and SME loans. It also owns Thanaban, a motorcycle-financing company.
Since TCRB operates mainly in the Bangkok suburbs, the recent flood took a toll on its lending portfolio, bringing an increase in non-performing loans. Currently its NPL ratio is 4.35 per cent.
NPLs have in fact been reduced as a result of strengthening its collections operations and it is confident that the ratio will decline soon.
