BBL pushing savings plans to office workers
Bangkok Bank has proactively approached salaried people by visiting their offices to educate them on regular monthly savings plans, aiming to expand its customer base and reduce risk from the expected decline in the number of people coming to traditional
BBL executive vice president Pochanee Kongkalai said that in a period of economic uncertainty, this kind of customer should give more importance to savings and reducing unnecessary expenses. Because of the trend towards online banking and away from physical branches, the bank must adjust – and approach customers proactively.
BBL has given importance to savings products and fee-based income, so it is contacting offices to promote regular monthly saving plans to help working-age people find savings products that have better returns than normal deposit accounts.
The "Sinmathaya Subthawee" programme and the "San Fun Duay Pan Bath" programme are two plans BBL is strongly promoting to people earning salaries, at their offices.
With the first product, customers can choose a 24-month, 36-month, 48-month, or 60-month term with a deposit of at least Bt1,000 but not exceeding Bt25,000.
The customers will receive tax-free interest if they complete the full deposit term.
The second programme is a mutual-fund account, in which customers can invest a minimum of only Bt1,000.
Both are existing products but BBL considers that they are not too complicated to explain to customers outside bank branches and are appropriate for salaried people who cannot afford much investment risk, she said.
To expand its fee-based income, BBL will use ATM-related cards, including debit cards.
It is promoting its debit card because it generates more certain income than bancassurance, Pochanee said. Premium income from bancassurance this year might not meet the target because when the economy slows down, insurance is the first expense to cut.
She said the "Be 1st Smart Rabbit Siriraj" card was one key product that could expand the bank’s fee income.
The annual fee is Bt599, higher than the Bt200 for BBL’s general debit cards, but holders of this card enjoy personal accident insurance coverage of up to Bt200,000 and medical expenses of up to Bt5,000 per accident.
After launching this card recently, the bank has received good feedback from mass-market customers and vendors who care about their health.
Upper-income customers have also applied for the card because they want to participate with the bank in donating money to Siriraj Hospital.
BBL will donate Bt100 for every new card issued, and Bt50 per card towards the annual joining fee for subsequent years to the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital. It will also donate 0.2 per cent of the value of purchases made using the cards to the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital.
