Kasikornbank awarded Best Retail Bank in Thailand at The Asian Banker International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards 2019

• Kasikornbank’s financial performance remained favourable despite challenging market conditions
• The bank continued its strong push in digital transformation by leveraging on AI and application platforms
• The bank furthered its “Customer Centricity” strategy by introducing new initiatives focusing on digitization and integration

Dubai,March 21st, 2019—Kasikornbank was awarded Best Retail Bank in Thailand at The Asian Banker International Excellence in Retail Financial Awards 2019. The awards ceremony was held in conjunction withThe Excellence in Retail Financial Services Convention 2019at Conrad Dubai, U.A.E on March 21st, 2019.

In the picture: John Holder, Chief Technologist, Realities Centre; Membersof the International Advisory Council of Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards Programme;Wilson Chia and Richard Hartung;Spiros Margaris, Founder, Margaris Ventures; WirawatPanthawangkun,Senior Executive Vice President,Kasikornbank

Kasikornbank’s financial performance remained favourable despite challenging market conditions

Despite challenging market conditions in Thailand causing a slight fall in risk adjusted revenue growth, the bank’s return on equity ratio remained above the industry average, and cost-to-income ratio remained low at less than 40% due to its effective cost management policy. The bank also managed to grow its personal loan business by over 5% year-on-year, by expanding to new groups of high potential customers.

The bank continued its strong push in digital transformation by leveraging on AI and application platforms

The bank’s K PLUS AI-Driven Experience leverages AI in its commerce and lending services to provide personalised services, products and recommendations for almost 10 million customers, with uptake increasing by almost 30% year-on-year. The bank’s K PLUS application features card-less cash withdrawals, transaction notifications, scheduled transfers and a mobile commerce platform, among others. The bank also partnered with Facebook and LINE Financial Asia to offer lending products, convenient fund transfers and a seamless payment experiencewithin these platforms.

The bank furthered its “Customer Centricity” strategy by introducing new initiatives focusing on digitization and integration

The bank launched a new branch type, K PARK, with integrated petrol station, delivery service and café amenities, as well as an online shopping space providing knowledge, consultancy and seminars for online business customers. Processing times for account openings were halved by allowing customers to digitally fill-in their personal data at bank branches. The bank also partnered universities with its ‘SMART University Solution’ to digitize students’ lifestyle through a mobile application.

The International Excellence in Retail Financial Services programme is one of the most rigorous, prestigious and transparent awards programme for consumer financial services in the world. Covering all of the Asia Pacific, the Middle East and West Africa, the programme was instituted in 2001 to recognise the pursuit of excellence amongst retail financial institutions. The programme evaluates more than 300 banks and non-bank retail financial services players in more than 42 countries, via a rigorous audit-based approach. Detailed evaluation criteria for each category may be found at http://awards.asianbankerforums.com/retailfinancial/criteria-country

About The Asian Banker International

The Asian Banker is the region’s most authoritative provider of strategic business intelligence to the financial services community. The Singapore-based company has offices in Singapore, Malaysia, Manila, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Dubai, as well as representatives in London, New York, and San Francisco. It has a business model that revolves around three core business lines: publications, research services and forums. The company’s website is www.theasianbanker.com

You may visit the Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards gallery at https://www.facebook.com/pg/TheAsianBanker/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10157080239284804

For further information on the collaterals for winning banks, please contact:

Mr. Alfred Labicassi
The Asian Banker
Email: alabicassi@theasianbanker.com