Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) is concentrating on inorganic growth in a bid to not only survive but also expand amid disruptive forces changing the global banking landscape.
The bank's inorganic growth, including mergers, acquisitions, partnerships and joint ventures, is being used to steer business expansion amid disruption that is rattling banks worldwide, said chief executive Arthid Nanthawithaya.
The country's biggest lender by assets plans to set up a new unit tasked specifically with strategy execution and development under the inorganic growth policy, Mr Arthid said.
These areas are under the responsibility of a co-president, Arak Sutivong, but the new unit needs larger teams for an in-depth workload.
Under the inorganic growth strategy, the bank has been searching for opportunities in potential areas. The partnership model should support the bank's expansion internationally.
SCB is in talks with Chinese companies about payment and peer-to-peer lending and with its existing partner in wealth management services from Switzerland, Julius Baer, about cooperation regionally, Mr Arthid said.
The bank plans to spend a few years strengthening the private banking business at home before expanding regionally into potential markets for financial services.
SCB's business model of international banking service has already been altered to catch up with the changing business landscape.
Local banking licence applications and foreign branch openings are no longer needed, while partnerships, joint ventures and M&A, particularly on the digital platform, are shortcuts for going abroad, Mr Arthid said.
Despite the change in overseas business strategy, the bank will maintain existing offshore networks to keep relationships with regulators, customers and business partners in host countries, he said.
Under the inorganic growth strategy, strengthening capability to appeal to potential partners globally is pivotal. The bank's transformation programme, now about four years old, has helped attract many potential partners.
"A lot of potential partners knock on our door to discuss business collaboration," Mr Arthid said.
The bank has implemented and spent a massive investment budget on the transformation programme since 2016. Under the plan, brick-and-mortar branches will continue to decline in accordance with rising digital transactions. At present, 90% of banking transactions are made on the digital platform.
SCB's headcount has declined minimally, from 26,000 a few years ago to 25,000 at present.
SCB shares closed Friday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 138.50 baht, down 50 satang, in trade worth 1.05 billion baht.