Kasikorn Private Banking (KPB), Kasikornbank's private banking unit, plans to increase its asset allocation portion of global risk-weighted assets to generate better returns for high net worth customers.
Under KPB's asset allocation strategy for the first half, it plans to increase the weight of global risky assets to 30% from 25% of the total investment portfolio last year.
The unit also plans to underweight its portfolio investment in fixed-income securities by 5%.
Given higher fiscal budget and stimulus measures to alleviate hardships and maintain the economic recovery momentum across the world, this will attract funds to move into risky investment assets, said Triphon Phumiwasana, managing director of KPB.
Risky assets, such as equities, usually see a surge in fund inflows when major stimulus packages are implemented by governments as investors pin their hopes on such measures translating into an economic recovery and improved earnings of listed companies.
KPB mainly focuses on global equities with two investment themes: Chinese and Asian stocks, and technology stock diversification.
"Stay invested and stay diversified is KPB's key strategy to generate better returns for customers, assuming a sharp recovery in the global economy this year," said Mr Triphon.
KPB recommends high net worth clients, whose minimum assets under management are 50 million baht, to allocate investments to a core portfolio covering multiple assets including both risk and traditional assets.
Siriporn Suwannagarn, managing director and financial advisory head of KPB, said the firm and its partner, Lombard Odier, forecast a sharp recovery in the global economy this year, owing to vaccination progress across the globe.
Vaccination leading to effective immunity is expected to occur by the middle of this year, said Ms Siriporn.
Under this scenario, the stringent measures put in place to curb the outbreak, including lockdowns, working from home, and travel bans, would ease gradually, with economic activities eventually becoming robust, she said.
The Chinese economy has normalised since the emergence of Covid-19 in Wuhan early last year, while US and European economic normalisation is expected in the second and third quarters, respectively, said Ms Siriporn.
Kirida Bhaopichitr, director for the economic intelligence service at Thailand Development Research Institute, forecasts Thailand's GDP to recover to 2.5% growth this year from an estimated 7.9% contraction in 2020.
Containment of the fresh outbreak in Thailand is expected to take 4-6 months, assuming a nationwide lockdown is not imposed, said Ms Kirida. Yet there remains a high risk Thailand will not be able to inoculate half the population by year-end 2021, delaying any tourism recovery, she said.