GSB sets higher bar for 2020 lending

GSB sets higher bar for 2020 lending

Mr Chatchai outlines Government Savings Bank's 2020 targets and business plan.
Mr Chatchai outlines Government Savings Bank's 2020 targets and business plan.

State-owned Government Savings Bank (GSB) aims to extend loans worth 550 billion baht and raise the customer base to cover 41% of the country's population this year.

If the target is achieved, the bank's net loans will rise by 4-5% or by 80 billion baht in 2020, said Chatchai Payuhanaveechai, president and chief executive of GSB.

Total assets are set to increase by 3.5% to 2.9 trillion baht.

The bank plans to deploy a three-pronged approach -- traditional banking, social development banking and digital banking -- using a sustainable concept to expand the customer base, Mr Chatchai said.

GSB customers account for 36% of the nation's population.

Mr Chatchai said the bank is preparing to develop contact centres to gather customer opinions, complaints and suggestions and provide information about GSB's products and services through the omni-channel approach.

GSB has adopted artificial intelligence, chatbot and speech recognition technologies to improve service efficiency for clients.

The bank stands ready to join with other banks to provide white-label ATMs, Mr Chatchai said. GSB plans to install 5,000 new ATM terminals to replace existing ones and increase coverage across the nation.

GSB and Kasikornbank (KBank) jointly launched a pilot white-label ATM scheme with no withdrawal fees and unlimited withdrawals under some conditions. Under this collaboration, customers of KBank and GSB can make withdrawals, seek deposit information and conduct interbank money transfers if they have bank accounts under KBank or GSB. Transactions are free if conducted within the same province.

For more than four interbank money transfers in different provinces, there are no cash withdrawal fees for KBank customers, while GSB customers are charged 15 baht per transaction.

The project is scheduled to end on April 30. The pilot is being run in five provinces: Sakon Nakhon, Nakhon Phanom, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.

The bank plans to develop a digital banking platform to serve all walks of life, Mr Chatchai said.

GSB also aims to offer more modern products and services through the omni-channel at faster speeds.

Features of GSB's mobile banking app, MyMo, will include i-Insurance, i-Savings, i-Investment and i-Loan. The bank aims for MyMo users to reach 13 million this year and 18 million in 2021, up from 8 million in 2019.

During 2015-19, the bank's assets rose from 2.41 trillion baht to 2.8 trillion baht, deposits jumped from 2.08 trillion to 2.14 trillion baht, loans outstanding increased from 1.92 trillion baht to 2.15 trillion baht, and the non-performing loan ratio climbed from 1.61% to 2.72%.

Although GSB's bad-loan ratio increased over the past four years, 2.72% is still lower than the ratio at the country's five biggest commercial lenders.

Net profit soared to 26.6 billion baht last year from 22.7 billion baht in 2015.

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