Krungsri targets aggressive growth
KRUNGSRI CONSUMER, the loan provider under Bank of Ayudhya (Krungsri), eyes aggressive growth in its personal lending and credit-card business next year, after toning down its operations in the past two years in line with economic conditions.
Thakorn Piyapan, chairman of Krungsri Consumer and head of Krungsri’s Digital Banking and Innovation unit, said the company planned to increase its market share by 2 percentage points in the personal-loan and credit-card sector next year by investing in a huge marketing budget for credit-card business. Krungsri Consumer’s share of the credit-card market as of end-September stood at 18.5 per cent, while it had 21 per cent of the personal-loan market.
By the end of next year, the company is determined to see these shares rise to 20 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively, he stressed.
The company will adjust some of the features it offers and use technology in its marketing for all Krungsri credit cards, Thakorn said, adding that with the acquisition of more customers, it would be able to enhance credit assessment thoroughly the availability of a broader intelligence base. “The marketing campaign and the technology will encourage cardholders to spend more than they do now, and alter the behaviour of customers with a higher level of credit but who spend less,” he explained.
Krungsri Consumer currently has a combined 7.8 million credit-card and personal-loan accounts.
The number of Krungsri credit-card accounts will increase next year due to the arrival of new partner Robinson Department Store, a retail arm of Central Group, he said.
With Central Department Store’s credit card already managed under the Krungsri brand, Central Group acknowledges that Robinson’s card should also be under Krungsri management, Thakorn said.
Under its strategy for 2017, Krungsri Consumer will also give more importance to corporate cards via synergy with other companies in the Krungsri group, he added.
Krungsri Auto, the bank’s vehicle-finance arm, has dealership partners nationwide, which could become corporate credit-card customers of Krungsri Consumer, he said, explaining how such synergy could work.
Meanwhile, credit-card spending and new lending from personal-loan products in 2017 is forecast return to double-digit growth after a period of single-digit expansion, the chairman said.
For credit-card spending, Krungsri Consumer projects 15-per-cent growth during the next 12 months, against expansion of 8-9 per cent this year.
For new personal-loan business, it targets 11-per-cent growth, versus 6-7 per cent in 2016. The growth goal is one of four business directions for Krungsri Consumer, the others being embracing digital transformation, customer experience, and organisational transformation, Thakorn said.
