CIMB Thai out to grow 'preferred customers'

CIMB Thai Bank will promote cross-border services to lure affluent customers and boost its assets under management (AUM).

Adisorn Sermchaiwong, senior executive vice president for retail banking, said yesterday that the bank this year targeted attracting Bt75 billion in AUM from “preferred” customers via regional referrals, outward remittances, pre-arrival document preparation for account openings, and other cross-border services. It has already cut the minimum AUM requirement to Bt1 million from Bt3 million. 

The bank already assists customers who want to open an account in Singapore and plans to expand this service to all countries in Asean late this month or in early May.

CIMB Thai is the first local bank to facilitate accounts in Asean for Thais without the need to go abroad. The Bank of Thailand is also encouraging individuals to invest more overseas to help ease the upward pressure on the baht. 

This service will attract businesspeople who plan to invest more in Asean ahead of the Asean Economic Community. Business operators make up about 70 per cent of the preferred-customer base.

Asean is an emerging market with rapid economic growth and its member governments are spending heavily to improve infrastructure, so investment in Asean will become more influential, Adisorn said. This will be an opportunity for both business and retail investors to invest through the capital, debt and equities markets in this region. 

The bank’s preferred-customer base has expanded 24 per cent so far this year to 14,982 accounts. Although the minimum AUM requirement is now Bt1 million, the average AUM per customer in the first three months remained at Bt3 million.

The bank projects doubling its preferred-customer base to 25,000 this year from 13,000 last year, which is important for mobilising funds and expanding the retail business. It hopes the proportion of preferred customers can rise from 60 per cent of the total retail portfolio of Bt100 billion in the near future.