Standard Chartered Bank (Thai) is gearing up to go after mega-deals with high expectations of winning some through the combination of its local and international networks.
"We can't grow on only lending, we have to do other things - retail and wholesale banking," Lyn Kok, SCBT's new president and chief executive, said yesterday.
SCBT, on the wholesale banking side, will focus more on the financial advisory role, assisting local companies to go overseas and acquire foreign assets.
Kok, with her seven years of experience in China and wide-ranging background in many top-level positions for the bank throughout the Asia-Pacific region, sees greater potential for this type of mega-deal in Thailand.
Banpu acquired an Australian company two or three weeks ago. Thai Union Frozen Products, a large frozen-tuna company, made a bid for a food company in Europe, though the deal is not yet closed.
"This is a sign of the trend to come," she said.
This signal comes mainly from the increasing growth of Thai exports to mainland China, Asean countries and Hong Kong, where SCBT has a strong presence.
SCBT, through its network in 71 countries, is the only bank that focuses on Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
SCBT, according to Kok, has a local advantage through its acquisition of Nakornthon Bank in 1999.
Kok is familiar with Thailand after working here for Standard Chartered Bank from 2001 to 2003. The bank emphasises small and medium enterprises, which account for about 90 per cent of all companies in the country. And 55-60 per cent of gross domestic product is generated from export-related trade.
Lending faces aggressive competition and is less profitable, she said. Her aspiration is to balance business between consumer and wholesale banking, which is in line with other Standard Charted banks globally.
On the wholesale side, SCBT will stress business advisory services for local companies interested in the countries where they are doing business to make investments overseas and hedge foreign-currency risks, and on the bond market.
On the other side of business, consumer banking, wealth management is in the spotlight with a strategy to develop more products and more convenient ways to reach services to attract Thais' savings. The bank looks mainly at Greater Bangkok, where 73.3 per cent of lending and 60.7 per cent of deposits were concentrated as of last December.
Of the bank's total loans outstanding, 60 per cent are secured lending and 40 per cent unsecured lending. The bank will continue with this mix.
Another challenge for Kok is doubling SCBT's market share from the current 2.9 per cent in three to four years.
In the first half of this year, SCBT posted revenue of Bt5.4 billion, up 9 per cent year on year.
Kok said it was quite balanced between consumer and wholesale banking. The bank's deposits stood at more than Bt101 billion. Its loan-to-deposit ratio stayed at 86.7 per cent.
SCBT, with 620,000 customers, has 32 branches nationwide and about 2,000 staff.
Kok, 44, a Malaysian, said her priority in her three-year term was people, making the workforce happier, more engaged, productive and well paid. Then they will perform better for the bank.