SCB Asset Management Co (SCBAM) intends to add another 100 billion baht worth of assets under management (AUM) this year to secure its leading position.
Infrastructure funds will be the company's main growth driver in 2016, as several infrastructure projects are scheduled to start this year, president Smith Bhanomyong said.
The government is setting up the Thailand Future Fund to pool all of its planned infrastructure projects, with funding of 100 billion baht. It will be offered to domestic and foreign investors by June.
The Finance Ministry recently said sovereign wealth funds from China, Oman and Iran had shown interest in investing in the Thailand Future Fund, with the Vayupak Fund initially putting up 10 billion baht as seed money.
The Government Pension Fund and insurance companies are also ready to invest in it.
The company's AUM surged 15.2% to 1.16 trillion baht in 2016 for a market share of 21%. Second-ranked Kasikorn Asset Management Co recently said its AUM rose by 4% to 1.14 trillion baht last year.
The strong AUM growth can be attributed to a 130% jump in private funds to 245 billion baht. SCBAM commands a 41.5% share of this segment.
Mr Smith said insurance companies and university endowment funds increasingly used asset management companies' private services for better investment diversification.
However, private funds will not be the company's main growth driver this year, he said.
AUM for private funds is expected to increase, but Mr Smith did not identify a growth target for 2016.
The company was also the market leader in provident fund business with AUM of 118 billion baht.
Its AUM for mutual and infrastructure funds last year amounted to 800 billion and 71.2 billion, respectively.
Mr Smith said his company's strategy entailed three requirements — a fund return in the first quartile of the industry; enough product variety to serve various investor risk levels; and connections built up with global investment partners to enhance efficiency.