RHB Bank Bhd Thailand, the local unit of Malaysia's fourth-largest bank, may increase capital to support its aggressive expansion plan.
RHB remains keen on asset acquisition in the Thai financial market as well.
Country head Thiti Musuwan said the bank's Bangkok branch has paid-up capital of 2 billion baht and will likely raise the capital base to serve this year's growth plans.
RHB aims for total asset growth of 45% to 11.6 billion baht this year. Plans call for expanding the total loan portfolio by 50% to 6 billion baht this year.
Medium-sized Thai and foreign companies with annual sales of 1-4 billion baht are the bank's target group, with most being Thai customers.
RHB Thailand's capital-adequacy ratio is 20%, far higher than the Bank of Thailand's requirement of 8.5%. The potential recapitalisation is to prepare for future growth, said Mr Thiti.
The foreign bank also plans to open two branches upcountry to add to the existing branch, pending approval by the Malaysian central bank.
The Bank of Thailand allows offshore banks to open up to 20 branches nationwide under the second phase of the country's financial sector master plan.
With a commercial banking licence, RHB Thailand could provide a full range of financial services such as retail banking to customers. It now offers only wholesale banking.
"Our parent, the RHB Banking Group, is still searching for opportunities in asset acquisition across the region," said Mr Thiti.
Apart from Malaysia and Thailand, the RHB Banking Group has made its presence felt in Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Brunei and China.
Meanwhile, RHB OSK Securities (Thailand) wants to increase market share for its brokerage business to 2% this year and its ranking to the top 15 within the next 18 months once full integration is completed.
The local securities firm was previously OSK Securities (Thailand) and was recently renamed after RHB Investment Bank Bhd (RHBIB), the sister company of RHB Bank, merged with OSK Investment Bank last month.
The firm's share of the Thai market is 1.4%, ranking 24th out of 30 active brokerage houses.
The strong networks of the firm's parent will support business expansion across the region, said Mike Chan, RHBIB's officer-in-charge.
RHBIB will be the lead underwriter for three initial public offerings this year, boosting revenue from investment banking operations.
It also plans to recruit more salespersons and increase active customer accounts from 25% of 9,000 accounts now, said Victor Yuan, the chief executive of RHB OSK Securities (Thailand).
Of the total accounts, 90% are retail customers.