CIMBT cuts branches, goes digital

CIMB Thai Bank (CIMBT) plans to further scale back its 130 branches to 80-90 nationwide by 2018 and shift to the digital banking channel to serve changing consumer behaviour.

The traditional branch network will be used to serve high-income customers under the Prefer programme for those with minimum assets under management of 1 million baht, said senior executive vicepresident Adisorn Sermchaiwong.

Financial advice, investment and wealth management are the major services used by Prefer clients.

The bank aims to raise the number of upper-income clients from the current 27,000 to 100,000 accounts in 2018. Based on the expected number of accounts, 80-90 branches would be appropriate for the next three years, he said.

The bank cut the number of branches to 130 at the moment from 160 over the past three years.

For the mass market segment, the bank plans to develop innovative channels in response to changing customer behaviour and lifestyle.

Retail customers largely use transactional banking services.

CIMBT has received approval from the central bank to offer an electronic savings account, called Beat Savings, via another company’s distribution channel.

It has joined hands with Advanced Info Service Plc (AIS), the country’s largest mobile phone service operator, to offer Beat Savings via 22 AIS shops across the country. The bank targets extending the service to 200 AIS shops nationwide and 100,000 new deposit accounts by the end of next year.

“Given that we are a small bank, we don’t want a lot of branches,” said Mr Adisorn.

“We prefer developing new channels in response to our customers’ demands and offer them easier access to our services. This is our key direction amid the changing environment,” he said.

CIMBT, 93.71% owned by the Malaysiabased CIMB Group, has also launched a mobile banking service, Beat Banking, which now has 27,000 users. It projects to increase the number of its mobile banking users to 100,000 by the end of 2016.

CIMBT shares closed yesterday on the SET at 1.05 baht, down three satang, in trade worth 464,000 baht.