Bank of Ayudhya (BAY), a member of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), has completed its integration with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) Bangkok branch after one year of preparations.
After the integration, MUFG's ownership of BAY through BTMU increased from 72% to 76.88% as a result of the issuance of 1,281,618,026 common shares by BAY, commonly known as Krungsri, to BTMU.
The Ratanarak Group, the founder of BAY, remains a key partner with a holding of about 20% of Krungsri's shares.
"By integrating BTMU Bangkok branch's assets of 479 billion baht, Krungsri's total assets of 1,716 billion baht [as of September 2014] are now comparable to Thailand's four largest banks," said Noriaki Goto, president and chief executive of BAY.
"2015 marks an important beginning for us. We are celebrating the inauguration of the new Krungsri following the successful integration with BTMU Bangkok branch. At the same time, we are also celebrating the 70th anniversary of our presence in the Thai banking sector."
By leveraging MUFG's global capabilities and connections in more than 40 countries with more than 1,100 offices, BAY will become a leading player with a strong universal banking platform and well-balanced portfolio between retail and commercial lending, Mr Goto said.
Tokyo-based MUFG is one of the world's leading financial groups with about 350 years of history and offers financial services such as commercial banking, trust banking, securities, credit cards, consumer finance, asset management and leasing.
Mr Goto said the integration with BTMU also provided opportunities to finance the commercial flows of around 4,000 Japanese-owned companies operating in Thailand, allowing BAY to leverage more than 700,000 employees connected to these companies to approach retail and other sectors and engage in new markets.
The combination of their strengths will also enable the bank to step up its leadership in consumer finance and expand its market share for corporate and SME banking.
"Commercial lending will account for nearly 60% of our loan portfolio, while retail loans will make up the other 40%," Mr Goto said.
BAY's new branch, named Bangkok Sathorn and formerly the BTMU Bangkok branch, was officially opened yesterday.
The bank aims to attract Japanese investors after setting up desks with fluent Japanese speakers at select branches.