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Branch network expected to help with retail side.
By Chiratas Nivatpumin
Ramky Subramanian, TMB's chief of retail and SME banking, explains that branch tellers will eventually be able to call up a customer's account and offer tailored products and services that match the client's life-cycle needs, whether it be in terms of deposits, insurance, investment and wealth management or credit. |
On paper at least, the results have been anything but rosy. Since the beginning of the year, shares of TMB Bank have dropped nearly 20%, compared with an 11% fall in the main share index.
ING is currently facing more than a 25% loss on its 460 million investment in TMB late last year, as global market conditions have turned decidedly more pessimistic over the past few months. Certainly the Dutch financial services giant faces an uphill battle in achieving value from the acquisition, particularly considering the decidedly poor results of previous foreign bank acquisitions in the country.
Ramky Subramanian, TMB's chief of retail and SME banking, shrugged off the results.
"The goal is to be a top-tier retail bank. Is this going to happen overnight? No. It will take effort on multiple levels," he said.
"ING certainly views [TMB] as an important initiative. There is absolutely a strong sense of commitment."
A veteran of Citibank, Bank of America and India's HDFC Bank, Mr Subramanian will play a central role in expanding TMB's retail share and helping cross-sell ING's investment and insurance products.
"We're actually quite fortunate to get this size scale. Foreign banks entering into a new market often start much smaller," Mr Subramanian said.
"TMB has a large branch network, an established customer base. The starting point is one of strength."
Thailand's sixth largest bank in terms of assets, TMB has a 9% market share in terms of branches and 7% in terms of cards. Of TMB's 9,000 staff, two-thirds work on the retail banking side.
The bank's "integration roadmap" aims to upgrade a number of "pillars" over the next few months, whether it be streamlining operating processes, strengthening checks and balances and risk management, developing new products or staff training.
Mr Subramanian said the bank would build up its 470 branches to be "sales and service centres" even as it continues to expand other channels such as mobile and Internet banking.
While he said that surveys showed fewer than 30% of customers regularly visited a branch, a "bricks-and-mortar" presence would continue to remain critical in expanding market share.
"There is a correlation between growth in branches and growth in deposits. Branches will continue to play a role for a 'financial superstore'," he said.
At the same time, TMB would explore alternative branch models such as self-banking hybrid concepts, where the bulk of a customer's transaction needs are met using ATMs and new banking technology with only a skeleton staff on hand to focus more on product marketing.
The bank also plans to revamp its customer relationship management systems and data-mining models to better predict customer needs and manage marketing efforts.
Branch tellers would eventually be able to call up a customer's account and offer tailored products and services that match the client's life-cycle needs, whether it be in terms of deposits, insurance, investment and wealth management or credit.
Mr Subramanian said ING planned to not only push its extensive portfolio of bancassurance and investment products, but would also develop new hybrid products that crossed between deposits, insurance and credit.
"Thailand is no different from other markets. We see Thai customers ready to embrace change very quickly," he said.
Service and execution are crucial for success, Mr Subramanian said.
"At the end of the day, how quickly can I service the customer? Thailand may lag behind other countries in adopting new technology, but a huge growth opportunity exists," Mr Subramanian said.
"The difference between winners and losers is execution."
Mr Subramanian said TMB's goal over the next three to five years was to reinforce its status as a Thai bank with international expertise and standards.
"It's hard to change market share dynamics within a few months. But there are examples where the league tables do change over a three- to five-year period," he said.
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