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Siam Commercial Bank Pcl expects digital lending to retail customers to climb almost eight-fold this year as Thailand’s biggest lender accelerates its online drive to win business.
Credit card and personal loans via the bank’s mobile phone application will rise to at least 18 billion baht ($582 million) this year from about 2.3 billion baht in 2018, said Co-President Apiphan Charoenanusorn. A $1 billion investment to support the technology, due to be completed this year, has helped the online retail banking expansion, she said.
“Online and digital services will be our key to survival and growth as the cost of getting new customers is cheaper and the target group is wider,†Apiphan, 54, said.
Thai banks and finance firms have teamed with technology companies to target individuals as they seek to boost loan growth, with more people turning to financial institutions for funds that are cheaper than those from informal lenders. Still, increasing domestic household debt has prompted the central bank to tighten supervision of mortgage lending and other consumer loans.
“Thai banks are facing a very tough situation from fintech companies, which have taken a big shares of fees from banking services,†said Tanadech Rungsrithananon, an analyst at RHB Securities (Thailand) Pcl.
Muangthai Capital Pcl, the nation’s biggest non-bank lender of consumer loans, Krungthai Card Pcl and Srisawad Corp have emerged among the best performers among Asian peers in the past month on optimism about loan demand.
They earn annual interest rates of more than 20 percent on personal loans, still more attractive to consumers who face monthly charges of more than 5 percent from loan sharks.
Siam Commercial, which counts King Maha Vajiralongkorn as its biggest
shareholder, plans to boost investment in overseas technology businesses, building on its partnership with ride-hailing giant Go-Jek, according to Apiphan.
The tie-ups would help tap surging demand among more than 40 million Thai cell phone users for online services ranging from financial products to food delivery, she said.