SCBAM looks to settle into No.1 position
SCB Asset Management (SCBAM) aims to cement its top position in terms of assets under management (AUM) by focusing on mutual fund management and customer base expansion via an optimised mobile app.
The company plans to expand its customer base from the current 400,000 accounts to 1.5 million within three years with the help of the SCB Easy app, said SCBAM chief executive Narongsak Plodmechai.
SCBAM last year ranked in the top spot in terms of AUM at 1.43 trillion baht, up 3.7% year-on-year, with a 20.6% market share, Mr Narongsak said.
Of the total 1.43 trillion baht, mutual funds accounted for 776 billion, followed by infrastructure funds (144 billion), private funds (393 billion) and provident funds (112 billion).
Private and provident funds under management were ranked in the top positions in the sector in terms of AUM, with private funds registering 30-40% growth a year, Mr Narongsak said.
“SCBAM has been successful in driving up its AUM for private and provident funds, while there is no growth for mutual funds,” he said. “Therefore the company will emphasise mutual fund management, where there is room for growth. We need to increase the number of investors and will use the digital platform as a tool for such expansion.”
SCB Easy app will help the company communicate with clients, especially those 1 million accounts that have no mutual fund exposure.
Mr Narongsak declined to comment on total AUM growth, saying the company will focus on fund performance and corporate governance.
SCBAM will also persuade investors to increase risk exposure depending on their risk acceptance, with the aim of earning higher investment returns, he said.
At present, more than 70% of total AUM is invested in low-risk assets such as money market funds, term funds and short-term fixed income funds, all of which have low returns, Mr Narongsak said.
SCBAM hopes to reduce low-risk asset investment and increase high-risk asset investment to give them equal weight in the future, he said.
Mr Narongsak said stocks remain a good asset class for investment, as the return on stocks is higher than that of fixed-income assets, but the stock market is still highly volatile this year.
The local bourse is an interesting investment destination among emerging-market peers because of net profit growth among listed firms and the limited impact from Turkey’s currency crisis, he said.