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Published on February 28, 2008

"The bank also considered the factor [of other banks' promotional campaigns] in our product launch," executive vice president Sakchai Peechapat said yesterday.

The new product pays interest of 2.4 per cent per year compared to 0.75 per cent at large banks.

It will target middle-class savers, who need only Bt100,000 to open the account.

The bank had been concentrating on large customers depositing tens of millions of baht, but has diversified its portfolio to smaller savers as part of its plan to expand that customer base to 25-30 per cent over three years from 10 per cent now.

The bank hopes to expand its deposits, now at about Bt70 billion, by 10-15 per cent this year.

Tisco Bank last month launched a 12-month fixed deposit account promising the industry's highest return. The campaign has drawn some 2,000 new accounts with Bt2 billion in deposits, far higher than the target of Bt1 billion. About 80 per cent of the accounts were opened by new customers, some of them coming from other banks.

Bangkok Bank, the country's largest bank, and Siam Commercial Bank, the third biggest, reported losing deposits of Bt6.19 billion and Bt3.65 billion respectively in January from the previous month.

TMB Bank's deposits also fell by Bt922 million, although deposits of the other three large banks increased.

That meant net deposits at the country's six largest banks drop 25 per cent over the period.

Kasikorn Research Centre earlier reported that deposits of the seven smaller banks rose by Bt51.57 billion or 7.10 per cent in January from the end of last year. That increase was mainly enjoyed by Tisco Bank, Thanachart Bank, Standard Chartered Bank (Thai), UOB Bank and Kiatnakin Bank.

Somruedi Banchoungduang

The Nation