Bank of Ayudhya (Krungsri) continues to expand its financial business in Asean and targets its regional customer base exceeding 500,000 this year.
The bank has around 500,000 customer accounts in Asean excluding Thailand, largely in Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.
Krungsri is working on three merger and acquisition deals in Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines after announcing them last year.
The deals are expected to be completed in the first half of this year, increasing its Asean customer base and boosting income from the region in 2023, said chief strategy officer Pairote Cheunkrut.
According to the bank's mid-term business plan for 2021-2023, Krungsri aims to increase net income from Asean business to 10% of its total net income in 2023.
The ratio increased from 3% in 2020 to 5% in 2021 and 6% in 2022.
While the bank is focused on Asean business expansion, it is also studying the details of the Bank of Thailand's plan to issue virtual bank licences.
The bank is interested in greater business opportunities via the new licensing, beyond existing financial services offered through mobile and digital banking platforms.
Krungsri plans to make a decision later about applying for a licence, said Mr Pairote.
There are five mobile and digital banking platforms under Krungsri group, covering deposits, loans, and investment in the three core categories of automotive, living and commerce.
The platforms cover all customer segments for the group, he said.
Krungsri, the country's fifth-largest lender by total assets, set an IT and digital investment budget of 10-11 billion baht this year, up from 7.4 billion last year.
The budget is allocated for mobile and digital banking platform development as well as core banking systems upgrades.
Bank president and chief executive Seiichiro Akita said Krungsri targets total loan growth for 2023 of 3-5% following expansion of 3.3% last year.
The bank expects its non-performing loan ratio to be 2.5-2.6% this year, rising from 2.3% last year because of the uneven recovery of the Thai economy and the expiration of the central bank's debt assistance measures in 2022, he said.
Mr Akita said Krungsri is emphasising environmental, social and governance practices.
The bank announced its goal of net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for its operations by 2030, and net zero GHG for its finance portfolio by 2050.
