1. Can you tell us about your company?
We are a locally based asset management company. Our business is to invest on behalf of our clients, from large institutions to high-net-worth individuals to retail investors. However, our products are not limited to investment services. We also have other services such as property and infrastructure funds, trustee for REITS, private equity trust, and provident fund registration. Currently, we are the fourth largest asset management company in Thailand with asset worth USD 27.5 billion at the end of 2021.

2. How long the company has existed and where are your offices based?
We started off in 1996 and have an office in Bangkok and Thailand. The company, formerly known as Mahanakorn Asset Management Co. Ltd., was established on October 7, 1996 with a paid-up capital of 100 million Baht. It received an asset management license by the Finance Ministry on November 15, 1996. The company was renamed Krung Thai Asset Management Company on August 4, 1999, popularly known as KTAM among clients, business partners, and general public.

On December 23, 1999, our paid up capital reached 200 million Baht to galvanize our competitive position and stature among the business community and clients. The company was awarded a private fund management license on December 26, 2000. In 2002, the company became a public limited company and was renamed as Krung Thai Asset Management Public Company Limited. The SEC awarded the company with a license to invest in derivatives on July 18, 2006.

3. What are the areas in which your company specializes?
Our strength lies in the business of equity. KTAM has a competitive edge investing in local mid and small cap stocks. Small-cap stocks have demonstrated greater growth than their large-cap counterparts if remained invested for a long time. Intuitively this makes sense as smaller companies have more room to grow and can be nimbler in response to growth opportunities. One of the challenges of investing in small and micro-cap companies has always been access to information. What makes our competitive edge even stronger is our research team and analyst that has strong commitment to an uncovered area. Our team conducts significant due diligence in an effort to maintain the highest quality small cap universe.

The strength lies in the business of property, infrastructure funds and REITs. Our track record speaks for itself, naming a few of our landmark deals are Tesco Lotus Retail Growth Freehold and Leasehold Property Fund (TLGF), Thailand’s largest property fund at the time of launch and Thailand’s first infrastructure fund sponsored by the government, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand’s North Bangkok Power Plant Block 1 Infrastructure Fund (EGATIF).

Thailand Future Fund (TFFIF) objective is to raise funds from the public and general investors and utilize the proceeds to invest in infrastructure businesses. TFFIF has opened up opportunities for the general public to take part in investment in quality transport infrastructure development of the government and state enterprise to foster the country’s competitiveness.

Another strength is our knowledge of the local market where we believe that our understanding and in-depth research will give us an advantage over our competitors. At the same time, we have created a local niche offering for our clients with a comprehensive range of products across various asset classes and investment strategies.

4. What are your thoughts on different funds available in the market for the last few years?
In the last few years, foreign investment funds (FIFs) have boomed due to the local market and the attractive returns elsewhere. However, the momentum has slowed down as all major markets have struggled recently. We are still seeing more innovative products than ever being launched, and especially products that will protect clients from high volatility. Since the pandemic, more people have started investing and we believe this growth will be reflected in mutual funds too.
KTAM is the asset management arm of a state-backed bank, so it is often regarded as a traditional asset manager. Yet, it still manages to leverage fintech and social media to grow the business and engage investors, particularly during Covid-19.

5. What are the key challenges involved in the transformation from a traditional asset manager to a tech-savvy one? How has KTAM overcome them?
Over the last 5 years we have seen our retail client base migrating to mobile banking. Due to our mother company’s synergies with government projects, we have witnessed major spill over effects into our digital product offerings and services as retail investors are not familiar with the various mobile applications.

More technical support was provided to our clients who had not used our online services. The firm believes that through knowledge sharing and spill overs from various partners, greater efficiencies can be achieved, enabling the firm to rely less on external managers.

6. What infrastructure or platform have been built to adopt fintech?
Compared to our peers in the industry, Krung Thai Asset Management currently uses the highest number of technologies and technological platforms to assist in various areas of the business.

Our KTAM Smart Trade application is available on all major mobile platforms and web browsers, which allow our clients to easily execute transactions across all funds. This platform helps investors in tracking their performance and other fund’s performance.

We have partnered with Fintech firms, Private Banks, Brokerage firms, and Finance Brokers across the country to expand distribution of our products. For example, KTAM has entered into a joint development partnership with Technology start-ups’ (non-manager) to help with the investment formulation plans of our thematic products. KTAM have used artificial intelligence to select stocks in the mutual fund Krung Thai AI Brain Fund. Securities are screened from various financial ratios and metrics that directly correlate with stock price, such as profitability ratio, liquidity ratio and efficiency ratio in operations. The system will create an investment portfolio from selected securities by finding the right balance point for weighting in each investment. Artificial Intelligence is a huge theme that our organization is currently utilizing.

We have few pending projects that will employ a lot of interesting technologies. We will be revamping our mobile application to enable easier account openings via facial recognition. So, in the future, you can open a mutual fund account without having to visit the bank or provide hardcopies. Recently, we have seen heavier traffic on order system online where clients can subscribe or redeem their shares via our website and mobile application. More technical support was provided to our clients who previously had not used our online services.

We are also working on Robot-advisory. This will be a tool used by our clients to readjust their portfolios with the help of Artificial Intelligence and Big data. These projects should be up and running by next year.

We also use various security technologies within our IT infrastructure to ensure all our information and client’s information is kept safe. It is important to make sure we protect ourselves with many layers of security, so we do not get hacked by people looking to exploit our data.

7. Can you outline your role as a fund manager and how you approach your clients?
As a fund manager, our role is to deliver consistent returns and remain true to our philosophy and style. Our approach is simple — we aim to become clients’ long term investment partner. We do this by understanding their needs and limitations, delivering best possible solutions, ensuring highest quality of services with full transparency.

The post KTAM’s strength lies in business of equity, says CEO Chavinda Hanratanakool appeared first on International Finance.

This connection is the first of its kind that links the retail payment system operators in both countries and also marks a key milestone in the ASEAN Payment Connectivity initiative that aims to promote financial integration in the region. The development of the QR payment system is similar to that launched between Singapore and Thailand and Malaysia and Thailand, where the countries announced their own cross-border payment.

The pilot launch of the QR payment system will focus on ensuring smooth interconnection and pave the way for customers, merchants, and operators for the full commercial launch next year. Currently, users from Indonesia can now use their mobile payment application to scan Thai QR codes to make payments to merchants all over Thailand.

Similarly, users from Thailand can also use their mobile payment applications to scan Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard (QRIS) to pay for goods and services at merchants in Indonesia along with using this feature for e-commerce transactions.

Sugeng Sugeng, deputy governor of Bank Indonesia told the media, “One interesting aspect of this project is the use of direct quotation of local currency exchange rates provided by the Appointed Cross Currency Dealer (ACCD) banks under the Local Currency Settlement (LCS) Framework to improve the efficiency of the transactions, thus lowering transaction costs.”

“The significant expected outcome of this first cross-border payment project is not only to facilitate transactions in the tourism sector but also to assist SMEs in tourist areas. This project will also increase financial inclusion, inclusive digital economy, and e-commerce transactions.”

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In the Series A funding round for the Bangkok-headquartered Thai fintech startup Lightnet, UOB Venture Management was among the top three investors, with the other two being Hanwha Investment and Securities and Seven Bank.

Apart from the trio, other investors in the fray included the likes of Singapore-based Hopeshine Ventures, Signum Capital and Du Capital. Uni-President Asset Holdings and HashKey Capital.

Chatchaval Jiaravanon, whose family operates the Charoen Pokphand Group, among Thailand’s largest organisations, is one of the co-founders of Lightnet. The other founder is Tridbodi Arunanondchai, an erstwhile investment banker.

Lightnet said that all 7-Eleven retail shops in Japan and around 69,200 convenience outlets across the globe are owned by investor Seven Bank.

Over 9,000 7-Eleven and Starbucks across Taiwan, China and the Philippines belong to another investor Uni-President Asset Holdings, which is the investment subsidiary of Uni-President Enterprises Corp.

The Bangkok-based start-up offers remittance services by utilising blockchain and linking the existing financial systems with its network of cash agents, which refers to places that can dole out cash, such as convenience outlets.

It seeks to substitute the informal banking and Swift processes currently employed by banks, and it will primarily focus on Southeast Asian expatriate workers who don’t possess bank accounts of their own as its customers.

The money generated from the fundraising will be deployed to augment Lightnet’s investment in the underlying blockchain technology on Stellar Network – the fintech’s blockchain partner, and to develop a financial mobility network.

Suvicha Sudchai, Chief Executive Officer of Lightnet said that the Thai fintech  startup’s core platform is ready and the first operation is expected in the initial quarter of 2020.

He added that the firm will collaborate with payment and remittance allies such as MoneyGram, Seven Bank, Yeahka and Ksher – from Japan, South Korea and various South-east Asian countries to guarantee an effective activation.

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