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The Finance Ministry yesterday injected Bt1 billion in capital into the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand, which increased paid-up capital to Bt14.755 billion, said bank president Monkol Leelatham.
The move came after SME Bank achieved its |targets for loan growth, reduction of non-performing loans, and improvement of good governance.
The capital injection will enable the bank to|support the government’s economic stimulus |policies further, it says.

DIGITAL BUSINESSES APPROACH BOI
The value of digital-business projects applying for tax privileges from the Board of Investment is expected to reach at least Bt5 billion this year, according to BOI secretary-general Hirunya Suchinai.
The number of applications during the first seven months of this year was 155, with total project value of Bt2.54 billion.
The approved projects include those of a British cloud-service operator and a South Korean commerce platform service provider. Another is the establishment of a data centre worth Bt750 million in Saraburi by a Thai company.

IFLIX GETS NEW CHIEF
Former TOT IPTV (Internet protocol television) boss Thinakorn Thianprathum was yesterday named the new chief of iflix Thailand, a provider of Internet TV.
The appointment is effective on October 3.
Thinakorn, a telecom, media and technology (TMT) veteran, replaces as country manager iflix Thailand co-founder Artima Suraphongchai, who will continue to head the Thai unit’s marketing |strategy.
Thinakorn brings more than 20 years of TMT experience to the role.
He most recently served as general manager and director at TOT IPTV, one of Thailand’s premium |pay-TV providers.
Before joining TOT IPTV, he headed smartphone marketing and was a deputy director for True Corporation.

THAI LIFE EYEING YOUNG CONSUMERS
Thai Life Insurance plans to launch another music-marketing concept in a bid to reinforce its brand awareness among young consumers after embracing digital media.
Chai Chaiyawan, president of Thai Life Insurance, said the company wanted to emphasis that it was the sector’s leader in terms of brand building, |communications and market expansion.
Chai said it would do that through various digital tools such as websites and social media – Line, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – as well as a mobile application.
The company referred to the latest research findings contained in the Nielsen Social Listening Report, which was conducted on online consumers, that found about 14 per cent of discussions on social media talked about Thai Life Insurance and the company was the most mentioned insurance brand on Facebook at 38 per cent.
Around 14 million facebook users from total 41 million users are interested in banking and insurance products. The content were presented on facebook page of a group of insurance business have the been engaged at 9.3 million in total, reflected that the content related to insurance is not only quantitative but it interesting enough to drag the consumer to engage with the content of the brand.

MITSUBISHI TO RAISE LAWSON STAKE
Mitsubishi Corporation plans to launch a tender offer for Lawson Inc, the third-largest convenience-store chain in Japan, in a bid to raise its equity stake to more than 50 per cent from 33.4 per cent at present, informed sources said, according to Jiji Press.
The agency reported that the share acquisition to make Lawson a subsidiary is estimated to cost more than 100 billion yen (Bt34 billion), the sources said.
Mitsubishi was expected to make a formal |decision on the tender offer as early as this week. – The Japan News