Krungsri Auto has set an aggressive growth target for its digital car loan service in response to consumer demand in the digital era.
It also plans to launch new automotive financial services on its digital platform this year.
Krungsri Auto, an automotive loan unit under Bank of Ayudhya (BAY), under the marketing brand of Krungsri, aims to grow the new digital vehicle loans by 53% year-on-year in 2022, said Congsin Congcar, head of Krungsri Auto Group.
The unit's digital car loans presently account for 6% of its total car loan portfolio after offering the loan product via its mobile app, Go by Krungsri Auto, last year.
Mr Congsin said car loan applications via the Krungsri Auto digital platform have recorded positive growth, in line with the changing behaviour of consumers amid digital technology development and social distancing during the pandemic.
Krungsri Auto also plans to expand the automotive financial service on the digital platform to cover motorcycle loans as well as a car title loans, namely Krungsri Car4Cash in the second half.
The move will contribute to the digital loan growth and total vehicle loan expansion, he said.
For this year Krungsri Auto plans to grow overall total car loans in terms of new loan bookings by 173 billion baht, rising 11% from the previous year.
The target is based on the assumption of an economic growth rate of 2.8%, new car sales of 810,000 units and the estimated value of total new car loans in the market at 499.50 billion baht, a 5% growth for this year.
Given the country's economic rebound and positive demand for both new car purchases and loans for new cars, Krungsri Auto set its total new loan growth target two times higher than the industry's growth.
The target also factored in external shocks, Mr Congsin said.
Car loan demand has been showing positive signs since the beginning of the year in accordance with better economic activities and consumer confidence. Moreover, internal business strategies including product and service development, and digitalisation would also support loan growth for this year.
Amid several uncertainties, Krungsri Auto still pays attention to asset quality and aims to contain non-performing loans (NPLs) at no more than 2% this year.
The bank will continue to help customers affected by the pandemic via debt restructuring after providing debt relief measures to 775,000 auto loan customers during the pandemic.