Krungsri Japanese Corporate and Multi-National Corporate Banking Group (JPC/MNC) disclosed five core strategies for 2019, focusing on loan, FX & derivative, deposit, trade & settlement, and cross segment collaboration, as part of an aim to enhance its leadership in the Japanese corporate market and be the most preferred bank for MNC’s customers in Thailand. In addition, Krungsri JPC/MNC will focus on expanding business opportunities in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), while Japan’s foreign direct investment (FDI) to Thailand is likely to be stable at $5 billion this year.
Mr. Yuzo Nakada, Krungsri Head of Japanese Corporate and Multi-National Corporate (JPC/MNC) Banking, said “To enhance our leadership in the market, we set up five initiatives for business promotion. Our strategic direction will focus on utilizing loan transaction to secure market position, expanding FX and derivative transaction opportunities, while strategically maintaining an increase in CASA (current account and savings account deposits) and other types of deposits to expand the deposit base. For trade and settlement, we aim to expand client base and continuously strengthen relationship with clients to be their main operating bank. For cross segment collaboration, we aim to maximize our collaboration with Thai corporate segment as well as Retail/ Consumer segment of Krungsri, and also leverage synergies with MUFG and its partner banks outside of Thailand. In addition, we also set up 3 platform evolution initiatives focusing on operational excellence, data intelligence and professional skill enhancement.”
“Despite an increasingly challenging external environment in the past years, Krungsri has maintained a leading position in the market for Japanese companies in Thailand, owing to our solid relationships with the customers and our capabilities to provide full banking services and products to them. We successfully secured leading position in loan and deposit market among Japanese banks in Thailand with double-digit growth during 2016-2018. This year, Japan’s FDI to Thailand is expected to remain stable at aroud $5 billion, while Thailand’s GDP is expected to be below earlier forecast of 4% in 2019. While further growth of Japanese and mutli-national companies in Thailand may generally be limited, and the competition among banks may become more intense, Krungsri would continue to maintain strong positioning in the market through our capabilities of providing best products and services to our customers,” Mr. Nakada said.
According to JETRO research, the total number of Japanese companies in Thailand is estimated at about 4,500. Krungsri views itself as the largest bank for Japanese companies in Thailand, as it is estimated that 70-75% of all Japanese companies in Thailand have accounts with Krungsri. In 2018, loan volume increased 16% from a year earlier, while deposit volume increased 10%. It is understood the collaborative strengths of Krungsri’s local expertise and MUFG’s global network and capabilities are among the most important factors which enable Krungsri to be rated “AAA” by TRIS Rating.
“To support foreign investment into Thailand by Japanese and other multi-national customers, we focus more on the EEC area. The government’s supports on various EEC projects will certainly be one of major growth drivers of the Thai economy and should attract more investments from Japan and other countries both in the shorter and the longer terms. We wish to play a significant role to contribute to the picture.” Mr. Nakada added.