KBank expands businesses to China

BANGKOK, May 27 (TNA) - As part of its business expansion plan, Bangkok-based Kasikorn Bank (KBank) has opened a new branch in Chengdu, the capital of China's Sichuan province, in a bid to become a local bank and connect western China with Thailand and other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). KBank's Board Chair and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Banthoon Lamsam told journalists on Monday that KBank plans to lend three billion yuan or about 15 billion baht in China this year, targeting local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), considered a big market in China. Banthoon acknowledged that the opening of the Chengdu branch is part of KBank’s Asian Bank strategy to help promote Thailand to become a banking center linking western China with ASEAN, in the lead-up to the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015. Banthoon pointed out that the gross domestic product of SMEs in Sichuan alone is now the eighth highest in China, as the province is a transport and logistics gateway to western China and KBank, therefore, plans to lend 180 million yuan or about 900 million baht there this year. Banthoon affirmed that KBank expects to lend a total of about three billion yuan or about 15 billion baht through its own branches and partner banks in China this year, noting that its lending in the immense Chinese economy from 2011-2012 had grown by 68.40 per cent and as of March 2013, its lending had amounted to 1.51 billion yuan or about 7.5 billion baht, a 17.3 per cent increase from the end of last year and its lending should soar by 132.56 per cent at the end of 2013. Currently, KBank operates three branches in China, including those in Shenzhen, Chengdu and Hong Kong, and has three representative offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Kunming. Banthoon said that KBank will open a few more branches to increase the number of its branches in China to five over the next two years, and, apart from the latest branch in Chengdu, KBank will also open a sub-branch in Guangdong Province in the third quarter of this year. According to the KBank's CEO, the move is to prepare for its request for a local bank licence to enable it to expand its services, including lending and deposit services, as well as international transactions and services for Chinese investors in Thailand. (TNA)