Krungsri Consumer, the unsecured loan unit under Bank of Ayudhya, aims to increase its customer base on digital platforms by 20% this year, aided by new digital service offerings.
Nayanee Peaugkham, Krungsri Consumer chairwoman, said the company plans to boost new customers for both credit card and personal loan services by 600,000 this year, 20% of which would come from the digital channel. New digital services would facilitate digital adoption, she said.
Krungsri Consumer plans to launch a new digital buy now, pay later (BNPL) campaign in the second quarter of this year. The new service will be made available for both the company's existing credit cardholders and new clients, who do not yet have a credit card.
Ms Nayanee said the company will use alternative data including social media information to analyse BNPL loan offerings. However, the company will not require financial documents from loan applicants. The company is considering whether to require borrowers' financial records from the National Credit Bureau (NCB), with the issue expected to be finalised soon.
"We would be open for new-generation customers, who may be good clients but have no credit record in the NCB, to access the financial service under data analytics," she said.
With new financial services and the use of alternative data, Krungsri Consumer plans to grow BNPL gradually under a strong risk management basis, based on the risk profile of customers.
The company currently offers a BNPL campaign for credit card loans, allowing customers to start paying instalments of the loan from the third month via credit card. Features of the financial campaign are close to BNPL in some areas. From November last year to this February, total card spending under the Pay Later campaign at partnership stores was around 45 million baht.
Ms Nayanee said Krungsri Consumer has offered personal loans via the digital platform Snap Cash since last October. The company also provides digital loans in collaboration with Grab. The financial services on a digital platform would help facilitate both digital users and digital loans under Krungsri Consumer in accordance with changing consumer behaviour in the digital era.
Regarding the overall business of Krungsri Consumer in 2023, the company targets total spending via credit cards of 350 billion baht, up from 333 billion baht last year. In addition, the company aims to grow new loans both from credit cards and personal loans by 97 billion baht this year, compared with 87 billion baht in 2022.
Moreover, the company expects to increase total outstanding loans to 155 billion baht in 2023, from 144 billion baht in 2022. Krungsri Consumer is also aiming to keep the non-performing loan ratio for credit cards and personal loans at existing levels of around 1% and 2.5%, respectively, by the end of this year.
