BBL bids to sustain customers' engagement via savings
Bangkok Bank is emphasising servicing the well-off and educating the masses about savings to sustain customers' engagement with the bank in the long run.
The economic uncertainty and tight purchasing power might not affect the moneyed customer compared with the mass customer, but the bank considers that it should increase its services to help the upper-end segment build their wealth, Pochanee Kongkalai, an executive vice president at BBL, said yesterday.
Customers with AUM of at least Bt3 million at the bank are eligible to become a Bualuang Exclusive customer. The bank has 80,000 such customers out of its retail base of 12 million-13 million customers.
A Bualuang Exclusive customer has deposits at the bank or invests in mutual funds from BBL Asset Management Co, a fund manager unit, or has a mortgage loan of Bt10 million and up from the bank.
Most customers are depositors and fund holders. The bank plans to find fund managers from other houses to broaden the choices for its customers if they have a need to seek more funds to increase their wealth, she said.
"We have seen customers shifting their investment from deposits to funds. Financial services should be increased in terms of lifestyle benefits to cater to the new generation, who are the inheritors of entrepreneurs," she said. Last December, the bank launched Bangkok Bank Visa Infinite credit cards for customers with AUM of Bt10 million. It has already issued 6,000 of the lifestyle credit cards.
Customers with deposits and investment of less than Bt3 million are also the target of the bank. The bank will offer more investment choices to them with the idea of upgrading them to Bualuang Exclusive.
Thaweelap Rittapirom, a director and executive vice president, said AUM is not a priority target. The bank wants to ensure its customers can sustain their wealth. If the customers are happy with the bank, they will increase the products that they hold and more AUM will be forthcoming.
A Bualuang Exclusive customer holds five products.
BBL’s network in other countries helps bring more wealthy customers, since most rich customers are entrepreneurs.
In the next step, BBL might broaden the Bualuang Exclusive services to foreign entrepreneurs who are business partners of Thai entrepreneurs.
In Thailand, Bualuang Exclusive serves affluent expatriates.
Pochanee said that for the mass market, the bank has joined hands with companies that are customers of its lending or payroll services to educate their employees at all levels about the advantages of putting their money into savings and investment.
Low-income people should think seriously about savings and some investment that will help them accumulate wealth. When they have wealth, they will have enough cashflow for debt repayment if they want to borrow from banks, she said.
Financial education is a key strategy for the bank in increasing current and savings accounts, which are less than 50 per cent at the bank.
The ratio should be more like 50 per cent, she added.
