Securities and leasing eyed

TMB Bank is planning to expand its business to securities and leasing over the next three years to provide a broader range of services to clients.

The decision to expand into these areas follows TMB's recent sale of its stake in TMB Macquarie Securities (Thailand), which is now named Macquarie Securities (Thailand).

The move would strengthen the bank's universal banking strategy. It currently owns an asset-management firm.

"Operating a securities company is necessary because it offers solutions to both corporate customers who need to raise funds and retail customers who want to invest in the capital market. We will provide the service within three years," Boontuck Wungcharoen, TMB chief executive officer, said in an interview yesterday.

On the leasing side, the bank may become a partner of an existing leasing firm or operate its own company for the purpose, but it must be separate from the banking business.

Boontuck added that equipment leasing would be offered to small and medium-enterprise customers that have little capital and do not want to build up debt.

He said that under the three-year plan, TMB aimed for a 14-per-cent market share in terms of deposit base. The bank also hopes to increase its fee-based income to 35 per cent of overall income, while another 40 per cent will be generated from retail customers.

These targets are good indicators of customer satisfaction, which is the bank's main orientation, he added.

"It's easy to hit the loan target because customers need money, but it's more difficult to make customers choose to deposit their savings at the bank. They must be really satisfied with the bank's service, so that they select us," said Boontuck.

Besides, TMB will introduce a clear internal policy so that all staff can share the same aspiration to drive the business in the same direction. The bank aims to spend heavily on training its employees and plans to ensure that they are all offered a fair salary.

Boontuck said that over the next 10 years, the budget for staff development would be more than what was spent on building its headquarters, which was reported to be in the hundreds of millions of baht.

With the US financial meltdown having now spilled over into Europe, Boontuck said its major shareholder - the Netherlands-based ING Group - might be affected by the crisis. But it is a large financial institution that provides a retail service and insurance without any complicated products, and one whose profit last year was more than Bt400 billion, he said.

However, TMB's chief said he was not representing ING, and therefore did not really know about the potential impact on the Dutch group.