SCB Wealth, the wealth management business of Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), aims to expand its base of young affluent clients through digital platforms, targeting 1.3 million users in this segment by 2024.
Yunyong Thaicharoen, SCB's senior executive vice-president and chief wealth banking officer, said the bank would mainly tap young affluent customers who were familiar with digital platforms.
SCB Wealth's minimum assets under management (AUM) for this young segment is 2 million baht per customer, the same amount as other wealth customers.
The young affluent digital customer base has continued to increase in line with Thais' growing adoption of digital technology. The bank wants to expand this client base to 620,000 by the end of this year.
Despite the economic downturn and volatile investment markets, digital affluent clients are still actively investing. Their investment transactions have fallen, but the decline is lower than for other customer segments, he said.
SCB Easy, the bank's mobile banking app, is a key investment channel for young affluent customers.
"With the strong growth potential of digital affluent clients, SCB Wealth aims to expand this customer base to 1.3 million by 2024, while the AUM of this customer segment is expected to grow positively," Mr Yunyong said.
The SCB Wealth business has around 400,000 customers, representing a market share of 40%. It aims to expand the total customer base by 12% each year from 2022-2024.
SCB Wealth expects to increase its total AUM to 2 trillion baht by 2024, citing the expertise of its relationship managers, quality advisory service, innovative products and open platforms.
He said the bank is ready to serve high net worth customers with innovative investment products worldwide. Under its partnership and open architecture strategy, the bank offers customers investments in several asset classes and helps them diversify risk properly amid uncertain global markets.
In addition, SCB Wealth plans to collaborate with other SCB subsidiaries to offer customers a full range of financial solutions through both physical and digital channels. SCB Securities and SCB Asset Management also offer advisory and investment services via digital platforms.
The firm said SCB X, the holding company for SCB and the SCB Easy app, plans to further develop digital platforms to better serve the requirements of all its customers.
Following the country's reopening, SCB Securities predicts Thailand's economic growth rate will be 3.4% this year, with the SET index to fluctuate between 1,550-1,750 points, settling on a year-end target of 1,650 points. SCB Securities recommends investing in undervalued SET-listed companies with strong profits, especially the banking and food and beverage sectors.