BBL has high hopes for Singapore branch under AEC
Bangkok Bank sees its Singapore branch as acting as a supporter of its Asean presence to corporate customers that are ready to deal with the influx of business from the Asean Economic Community.
“The bank compares itself to a board of investment in guiding information of investment and regulations to customers before transferring them to the bank’s branches where the customers are keen to trade and invest,” Charoenlarp Thammanichanond, general manager of the branch, said yesterday.
At 25 per cent of gross domestic product, manufacturing is the biggest sector of the Singapore economy, followed by the service sector. The country attracts foreign direct investment because it is friendly to investors, it is the most open economy in Asean and it is the financial hub of Southeast Asia, he said.
Businesses in Singapore always aspire to invest outside and the AEC is a bigger opportunity for them and foreign investors.
Established in 1957, the Singapore branch was the bank’s first in Southeast Asia. It is a full-service commercial bank licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The image of the bank in the eyes of corporations doing business in Singapore is of one with expertise in trade finance, so the major customers of the Singapore branch are foreigners.
The bank’s many networks in Asean and China have given the Singapore branch a competitive edge in helping foreign corporate customers with financing and transferring them to the bank’s branches in the countries where they plan to invest.
The Singapore branch will support Bangkok Bank’s latest sub-branch in Medan, Sumatra, by sending over Asean customers in Singapore that are looking for opportunities in Indonesia.
The Singapore branch predicts that Asean customers, mostly Thai and Indonesian corporations, will make up half of the total in three years, up from 30 per cent currently.
Five years ago, the proportion of Thai corporations in its customer base was lower than 10 per cent, but now they have climbed to 20 per cent because of the rise in Thai direct investment abroad.
The bank is among the financial institutions providing support for the merger-and-acquisition deals of Thai corporations including TCC Group, which recently acquired Singapore-based Fraser & Neave.
“The AEC is arousing business activities in terms of investment and trading. The open economy here will help drive our loans as well,” Charoenlarp said.
Most of the lending at the Singapore branch is for trade finance and transaction credit after the deals are closed.
The bank expects its growth this year will run in the double digits thanks to the trade activities of Asean and Thai corporate customers after posting single-digit growth since the US-led global financial crisis in 2008.
Chaiyarit Anuchitworawong, an executive vice president and manager of international branches at Bangkok Bank, said that even though it could not reveal the actual figure for outstanding loans at the Singapore branch, its loan portfolio was the third-largest among the bank’s international branches.
Indonesia ranked fourth with a portfolio worth US$750 million (Bt23.8 trillion).
