.jpg)
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) has signed an agreement with CIMB Thai Bank pcl, a member of CIMB Group, and its brokerage arm CIMB Securities (Thailand) Co., Ltd, to include them in the Banker-to-Broker 2013 project, thus expanding the prudent investor base via CIMB’s 165 branches nationwide and improving the effectiveness of CIMB’s wealth management bankers.
SET President Charamporn Jotikasthira said that the CIMB Group is the fifth largest financial institution in ASEAN, whose countries cover 600 million people. Thus, this cooperation paves the way to further expand investor base at the regional level. SET and CIMB have jointly held training for CIMB employees in wealth management and investment products, and will do so again later this month, so that these bank officials would service customers more effectively and enable the clients to become more prudent investors.
“The Banker-to-Broker project is now in its third year, and has successfully encouraged depositors to add 50,000 securities accounts so far. This cooperation between CIMB and SET marks a milestone in expanding the investor base from the national level to the regional stage. It will also significantly enhance CIMB’s range of banking services to meet customer demand,” Charamporn added.
Subhak Siwaraksa, CEO of CIMB Thai Bank, said that the bank was delighted to participate in this project, as it developed its personal financial planning service and introduced clients to securities investment through CIMB Thai’s 165 branches nationwide, including through electronic channels. The bank had previously introduced clients to its brokerage arm, and joining this project will substantially enhance their depositors’ ability to access the capital market.
“In addition to supporting savers to become investors, CIMB group also emphasizes encouraging investment literacy among youth by holding an online stock trading competition, ‘CIMB ASEAN Youth Stock Challenge 2013,’ for university students across the ASEAN region to join in trade simulation and strategic investment planning contests. With Thailand hosting the competition this year, the contest will enhance investment literacy among students efficiently,” Subhak said.
Suchai Sutasthumkul, CEO of CIMB Securities (Thailand), said that the Banker-to-Broker project was a joint bank and broker activity enabling clients to get the most investment benefit efficiently, covering a comprehensive range of products, while the broker and bank could jointly expand business opportunities, since, for example, brokerage customers are interested in bank products as well, such as fixed income and other derivatives products.
“We also have a project, called ‘Saving in stock,’ for depositors who need savings. In this activity, we encourage clients to spend the same amount of money on buying stocks every month as long-term investments in stocks with solid fundamentals. We expect that this “Saving in stock” to be popular among banking customers,” Suchai concluded.
Currently, there are 9 commercial banks and 9 securities companies in the Banker-to-Broker project, with a total 5,847 bank branches nationwide.
