VORAPAK TANYAWONG, pre-sident of Krungthai Bank, has |said that trying to acquire another Thai bank is long way |off as his priority is to boost profits in the face of fierce competition from the country’s other major banks.
Among the top four banks, KTB last year beat Bangkok Bank with total assets of Bt2.748 trillion. BBL has total assets of Btt2.742 trillion.
But KTB's net profit last |year was lower than BBL, Kasikornbank, the fourth largest bank, and Siam Commercial Bank, the third largest.
KTB reported a net profit |of Bt28.49 billion, down from Bt33.19 billion because of the high provision for Sahaviriya Steel Industries.
BBL reported a net of Bt34.18 billion, SCB reported a net of Bt47.18 billion and KBank reported a net profit of Bt39.47 billion.
Without the provision for SSI, KTB profitability last year showed that it outperformed the other three banks especially for net interest income and fee income.
Vorapak has initiated three summits as part of the bank's first long-term business plan.
The second summit begins this year with the goal of closing gaps on the other major banks.
This year is his fourth year he has headed the country's largest bank under a four-year contract.
Vorapak told The Nation that domestic consolidation was his personal ambition but the bank should follow its seven-year business plan.
"So from now to the end of the third summit is six years," he said.
KTB should be stronger and be ready for any local consolidation opportunity in the future, he explained.
"Thailand will need to have larger banks to expand regionally due to Thai banks being small compared to Malaysian and Singaporean banks," he said.
"Organic growth is too slow [for Thailand] to be a meaningful regional player in my view."
Vorapak said that it was tough for KTB to make a substantial footprint in Asean and opening a branch in each country did not bring about quick success on the back of Asean integration.
"A solution that helps Thai banks have scale enough to compete with Malaysian and Singaporean banks is we have to consolidate to form a Thailand Bank, with stakes held by Thai banks," he said.