BAY, MUFG execs to meet on plans
Krungsri Group (Bank of Ayudhya and subsidiaries) will next week begin talks on its business plan and the Thai economy with Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), who will become the major stakeholders in the group.
Thakorn Piyapan, managing director of Krungsri Consumer, the consumer finance arm of Krungsri Group, said yesterday that the meeting next week will be an official session between the executives of the bank and MUFG. Krungsri Consumer will share the outlook for its business and discuss strategies.
“We will present the risk management and the Thai economic situation in regards to retail banking. If our direction is the same as MUFG, we hope the existing business plan will get the go ahead,” he said.
“In our earlier discussions with MUFG, they were happy with the regional expansion of BAY. The bank is asking for a representative office in Myanmar, and setting up a joint venture in Laos and is conducting a feasibility study on microfinance in Cambodia,” he said.
Thakorn said that payroll accounts of Japanese companies in Thailand is a priority focus for the bank. The bank currently has 300,000 pay-roll accounts.
Thailand is a potential hub in Asean for MUFG, while Krungsri’s retail banking could support Japanese companies based in Thailand and build a strong relationship with supply-chain businesses who are partners of Japanese manufacturers in Thailand as well, said Thakorn.
MUFG, one of Japan’s three mega-banks along with Sumitomo Mitsui and Mizuho, will make a tender offer in November to become a major shareholder in BAY through its wholly owned subsidiary – Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ – after acquiring GE Capital’s 25-per-cent stake in BAY. The deal is expected to be completed in December this year.
Separately, the bank yesterday launched the Manchester United debit card with a new imprint, expecting to acquire 50,000 new cards by the end of this year from the existing 100,000 Manchester United debit cards.
Kris Chantanotoke, executive vice president of the Wealth Management Division, said that the spending by Manchester United cardholders is the highest among Krungsri debit cards.
The monthly spending of Krungsri debit cards was 250 million. The new surface imprint will help expand new debit cards. The bank wants to drive the number of debit cards rather than ATM cards.
Of the total 3 million cards currently, 1 million are ATM cards and 2 million are debit cards. The bank is targeting 3.5 million cards this year.
The debit card also supports the savings account along with the transactional accounts. The bank this year is targeting deposits of Bt800 billion, an increase of 12 per cent from last year.
