Briefs

Commerce Minister Apiradee Tantraporn says based on her discussion with European Parliament member David Martin the EU will commence free trade-agreement negotiations with Thailand at an official level this year.

The development follows the Kingdom coming up with a clear roadmap to a general election, she said.

The FTA will cover topics such as intellectual property, labour and environmental issues, she said.

 

GH Bank receives 13,10 loan applications

Government Housing Bank has received 13,106 loan applications for a combined Bt14.62 billion under the governmentโ€™s Baan Pracha Rath scheme since it started last Wednesday, as of 5 PM yesterday.

“People are interested in the project [because of] the low interest rates,” said Laiwan Pongsangium, senior executive vice president and caretaker president at the bank.

The interest rate under the scheme is 3.16 per cent per annum for an average of six years on a loan of no more than Bt700,000. The first three years will see monthly instalments of Bt3,000. The rate will be charged at 4 per cent per annum on a six-year average for loan of no more than Bt1.5 million. In the first three years, each monthly instalment will be Bt7,200.

The bank will also relieve customers’ debt service ratio as a way to help them increase their total borrowings.

 

 True urges fair re-auction

True Corp has formally requested that the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission hold a new auction for bandwidth on the 900-megahertz spectrum on a fair and transparent basis. 

The company said the minimum starting bid for the band in this new auction round should be Bt75.654 billion, the same price quoted by Jas Mobile Broadband when it won the licence in the first auction of two 900MHz licences last December. 

True was the other winner in that December auction, with a bid of Bt76.3 billion. Jas lost the right to use the licence after failing to pay the initial instalment of the upfront licence fee by the deadline of March 21, prompting the regulator to prepare to re-auction this licence, possibly in June.

If the final bid in the new auction round is lower than Bt75.654 billion, the NBTC should lower the total amount True must pay for its licence to the same price, True said in a letter to the commission.

True has also told the NBTC that it should not allow Advanced Info Service to continue to use the 900MHz band on free of charge. 

 

Financial tech push

Financial technology will play a more important role in investor decisions and will result in a securities industry shift in focus to competition in services rather than pricing, according to the Association of Thai Securities Companies.

“The key to making a decision will be how much returns on investments to be given rather than how much the commissions will be rebated,” said Pattera Dilokrungthirapop, ASCO president and chief executive officer of DBS Vickers Securities (Thailand). 

She said the industry was on alert to develop more trading services related to financial technologies. 

More than 10 securities firms had launched financial technology applications to help investors decide on security investments easier, she said. 

However, she said the use of financial technology was yet to result in a decline in a number of marketing salespersons as there were still customers demanding advice directly from them.

In fact, financial technology could help facilitate traditional trade services, she said.

 

AXA in good shape

Martin Rueegg, chief executive officer of AXA Insurance Pcl, has revealed the company continues to outperform the market and achieved for 2015 financial year a premium volume of Bt3.49 billion.

That is an increase of 8.5 per cent compared to the same period in 2014 and more than four times the average industry growth, he said. 

This strong performance confirms AXA successfully delivered on its five-year strategic plan for 2010-2105, he said.

Rueegg said other operating performance indicators were also satisfactory, particularly the profits from underwriting insurance and investments that resulted in a net profit of Bt121.7 million. 

He said the company’s highest revenue growth for the 2015 financial year was seen in health Insurance – an increase of 60 per cent compared to the previous year that elevated AXA to fourth position in the market. 

He said while all distribution partnerships supported the strong performance achievement, some channels saw exceptionally strong growth. For example, the online channel grew by a staggering 55 per cent compared to the same period last year, he said.