The fund, which invests in short-term fixed-income instruments and allows investors to buy and redeem unit trusts every day, has already grown from Bt2.5 billion early this year to

Bt9 billion at the end of the first quarter. Thanachart wants the fund to end the year with Bt20 billion.

Local banks have responded the Bank of Thailand's signalling of interest rate declines by cutting their deposit and loan interest rates by 25-50 basis points twice this year.

Executive director Boonchai Kiattanavith said last week that the money market fund's selling point was higher returns than bank deposits.

"In the first quarter of this year, our fund could generate a 4.97-per-cent return, compared

to the benchmark of 3.18 per cent.

Also, the strong support from Thanachart Bank's branches has significantly helped boost up growth," he said.

Thanks to the stellar performance of its money market fund, the firm hopes that its total assets under management will blossom to Bt70 billion from the current Bt55.09 billion.

It aims to become one of the top four mutual fund companies by assets, excluding the Vayupak Fund.

Apart from the fixed-in-come fund, Thanachart plans to focus on foreign investment funds this year using know-how contributed by Bank of Nova Scotia, which last month spent Bt7.1 billion to purchase 157.13 million shares from Thanachart Capital.