Krungsri gears up for return of investors from Japan

Pornsanong Tuchinda, head of commercial banking, said yesterday that healthcare and wellness and real estate were currently the priority focus of Japanese businesses looking to invest in Thailand again since the government announced the Thailand 4.0 industrial-development policy.
The actual level of new Japanese investment will be seen when these companies have a clear picture of development plans under the policy, he added.
Japanese companies invested in Thailand have been a crucial part of the customer base for Krungsri’s commercial-banking operations since 2015, reflecting the successful integration between the Thai bank and BTMU (Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ) Bangkok Branch, which is part of Japan’s MUFG (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group), he said.
Pornsanong said Japanese investors were currently eyeing healthcare and wellness business in Thailand because of this country’s increasingly “greying” population.
Japan has expertise in healthcare and wellness in light of its own ageing population, while real estate is another business that investors are keen on because of its being tourism-related.
The bank will offer investors total financial solutions, catering to corporate customers that may not only require financing but also financial advice and business-matching services, he said, adding that Krungsri would therefore focus more on how to deliver a package of solutions to such clients.
A number of medium-sized Thai hospitals also are interested in expanding their healthcare and wellness business, presenting a further opportunity for the bank’s commercial-banking arm, he said.
Last year, the unit enjoyed loan growth of 11 per cent, with outstanding lending rising to Bt642 billion thanks to the financing of major deals involving Siam City Cement, which acquired a cement business in Sri Lanka; Central Group, which purchased a retail business in Vietnam; and Thai Union Group, which acquired a business in the European Union, Pornsanong said.
Excluding those large deals, loan growth was 7-8 per cent.
This year, while the bank’s commercial-banking arm targets 5-per-cent growth due to fewer big deals on the horizon, it should still outpace its peers thanks to the recovering Thai economy and Thailand 4.0-related business activity, he predicted.
Moreover, with the unit’s customer base sufficiently large for the provision of improved total solutions, it wants to give more importance to the quality of customers and offer value-added solutions to its current clients, he explained.
Commercial banking at Krungsri covers corporate customers with annual sales revenue of more than Bt1 billion, and small and medium-sized enterprises with annual revenue below that level.
Based on the loan-growth target of 5 per cent, most lending this year will be contributed by medium-sized enterprises, a segment in which the bank has witnessed lending demand, he said.
“These firms [mid-sized enterprises] are more confident in the Thai economy, and many of them are in retail, where there is purchasing power but consumer sentiment |has not yet returned. If sentiment improves, purchasing power will be released and SMEs will benefit. 
“On the other hand, most corporate customers are not requiring new lending at present, as they first want to see how the global trade situation settles,” the commercial-banking head said.