• 
• 

Published on July 28, 2007

He said the Dutch group was serious about taking a stake, which would be good for TMB as it would greatly help strengthen its business potential.

The country's fifth largest bank is now undertaking another recapitalisation. It has already appointed a financial adviser and is about to negotiate with its existing shareholders on the new strategic partner issue.

"Now, Bank of Ayudhya has GE [Money]. Although they haven't been aggressive, as they need time for restructuring, we need to look at our future. ING is a world-class financial group. It has an insurance business that ranks No 2 in Europe. They seriously expressed their intention to invest," the source said.

However, the new strategic partner issue would need to be considered by the Finance Ministry, one of the bank's major shareholders. The ministry has scheduled to finish the bank's fund-raising by September.

According to Reuters, DBS Group Holdings, Singapore's biggest bank and another major shareholder of TMB, said it was reviewing whether to take part in the recapitalisation plan.

"We share with others the disappointment in the results of TMB," Jackson Tai was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Subhak Siwaraksa, president and CEO of TMB, said the Bank of Thailand had started reviewing the bank's loan quality, which was sooner than expected. He said the central bank needed to examine details, as the bank wants to proceed with its recapitalisation plan. However, the review has yet to end.

It is possible that the bank will need to set aside more reserves for the third quarter. In the first half, it allotted Bt8.2 billion for provisioning.