Standard Chartered to Exit Thai Retail Banking Next Year

Standard-chartered-2-1024x683.jpg

Standard Chartered Plc plans to transfer its Thai retail-banking business to Thailand’s Tisco Financial Group Pcl next year, exiting an operation that the U.K. lender said lacked the scale to generate adequate returns.

The net asset value is about 5.5 billion baht ($153 million), according to a stock exchange filing by Tisco on Thursday, which didn’t disclose a price for the deal. Tisco shares climbed to a record.

Standard Chartered will continue to operate corporate, institutional and commercial banking businesses in Thailand, but the small size of the retail operation made it “increasingly difficult to achieve the returns that we aspire to,” the lender’s Thai head, Plakorn Wanglee, said in a press release.

“It’s very tough to survive in Thailand’s retail-banking business for small players with very fierce competition,” Isara Ordeedolchest, an analyst at SCB Securities in Bangkok, said by phone. “The outlook for banks should improve significantly in 2017 as a consumption recovery and higher government spending will spur economic growth.”

The Asia-focused Standard Chartered is targeting a turnaround after last year posting its first annual pretax loss since 1989. In a sign that the Thai operations were not a bright spot, the bank in February recorded a $126 million goodwill impairment on its business in the country.

One unit of Tisco Financial, Tisco Bank Pcl, will take over operations including personal lending, mortgages and deposits, while another, All-Ways Co., will take over the credit-card business, the exchange filing said. The deal is subject to approvals.


About Retail News Asia

Retail News Asia is committed to providing local and global retailers with the latest news from the Asian retail market on a daily basis.

We have resources for everyone from independently owned business owners to online-only retailers and major chains expanding their reach throughout the Asian market. Retail News is “the news source” with over 50 weekly posts and 13,6 million readers.


CONTACT US

CALL US ANYTIME

Most read



Retail updates

Stay up to date of the lates updates and retail news from Asia.








X