Bangkok--2 Apr--TISCO Financial Group
TISCO Bank Plc., All-Ways Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of TISCO Financial Group (collectively "TISCO"), and Citibank N.A., Bangkok branch ("Citibank") announced today that the parties have signed an agreement to transfer TISCO's unsecured personal loans and credit card businesses to Citibank ("the Transfer").
The Transfer was made in line with TISCO Group's strategy to provide high satisfaction services to its customers under the current market situation. Citibank was selected because it is the leading bank for unsecured personal loans and credit card businesses in Thailand who will be able to provide quality services to fulfill the transferred customers' needs.
Customers will be notified of the Transfer and will receive progress updates in writing. Both parties commit to work closely during the system migration period to ensure a smooth and seamless transition.
The unsecured personal loans and credit cards businesses are part of the retail business portfolio, which included mortgage loans, bancassurance, deposits, and wealth management that TISCO acquired from Standard Chartered Bank (Thai) PCL last October.
Mr. Sakchai Peechat, President of TISCO Bank said "The decision was made in accordance with TISCO's retail business long term strategy to grow in the area of secured loans, while we have Citibank showing interest in providing products and services that should meet this group of clients' needs. For us, clients' benefits and continued services are key consideration in this deal."
"Other retail businesses transferred from Standard Chartered continue to expand as planned especially wealth management which receives strong support and confidence from clients. The open architecture platform together with advisory from our relationship manager provide clients with selective choices of leading mutual funds and insurance products. On mortgage loan, marketing campaign of "TISCO Mortgage Saver" with outstanding feature for clients to make them own their house faster, will be actively promoted this year along with auto - related loans which remain our major part of retail portfolio. In all, growth in total retail business of TISCO this year should be as expected."
Commenting on the Transfer, the Head of Consumer Banking of Citibank Thailand, Vira-anong C. Phutrakul said, "Growth is a key priority for the Consumer Banking business in Thailand and this transaction gives us the opportunity to further scale our business domestically. As a top credit card issuer in Asia, Citibank will offer these new clients access to market-leading credit card propositions which include our widely acclaimed dining and loyalty programs, as well as exclusive benefits with our partnerships with leading platform players in the region."
In Asia Pacific, Citi has over 16 million credit card accounts with continued strong performance and growth. In 2017 Asia cards revenues grew 10% to US$2.8bn in 2017 and net income was US$462m – up 12% supporting the bank's sixth consecutive quarter of growth in its Asia Consumer business. With Citibank's expertise and professionalism, TISCO strongly believe that clients' benefits and continued services are in good hands with Citibank.
The transferred businesses are expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of this year.