Summit Capital plans 50 branches by mid-2017

“The company has spent Bt20 million on advanced technologies for the newly opened Summit Capital Credit, making its credit operation faster, more secure and efficient than ever,” chief executive officer Wichit Phayuhanaveechai said recently. 

The company has also set an aggressive five-year target to become the industry leader.

Amid the fiercer competition, the company needs to provide customers financing services with better speed and convenience. 

Loans can be approved in 30 minutes by using a fax server to connect its branches and back-office operations at the head office more smoothly. 

By adopting cutting-edging technology, Wichit was able to bring in better-than-expected performances after working as the top executive at Summit Capital for almost two years. 

Last year’s results were 100 per cent better than targeted and even this year looks to continue that momentum. 

Year to date, the company’s hire-purchase business has seen a 58-per-cent growth in customers and 49 per cent in loans.

“If we want to become No 1 in the industry, we need to book [Bt500 million in] new loans for about 10,000 motorcycles per month for three years,” he said. 

The country’s largest player is the Phornprapha family’s Thitikorn group, followed by Krungsri Auto and Summit Capital. 

The company last month revised down its target for new motorcycle financing to 6,500 units from 8,000 units per month to reflect the recent downtrend in the economy.

“We’ll wait and see whether to adjust the target next year. The company, however, will continue investing more next year to expand its branches from 19 branches currently,” he said.

“We’ll still keep on expanding…we also expect to expand our branches to 25 by the end of this year,” he said. 

There are some two million motorcycles sold a year, of which 30 per cent are financed via leasing and hire-purchase lenders. The rest are paid for in cash (10 per cent) and financed by small motorcycle shops (60 per cent), which are considered as non-finance lenders that normally charge a higher interest rate than the industry.

“So there is still room for us to penetrate this segment,” he said.

With the support of its global trading company parent, Summit Capital plans to launch more credit products next year.

Besides automobile and retail financing, Sumitomo Corp, which has been doing business in Thailand for 60 years, is involved in commodities such as metals, minerals, food and chemicals.