Thailand’s Kasikornbank is seeking the Bank of Thailand's approval for a series of additional services for its private banking clients.
Kasikornbank's (KBank) property advisory services proposal includes real estate brokering, land and property utilisation, matching sellers and buyers, and financial advice for business partnerships and mergers and acquisitions.
Thai publication «The Bangkok Post» reports that the central bank will take into account customer demand and service solutions that help customers manage their assets and build up wealth. KBank is the country’s fourth largest lender by assets,
Market Speculation Worries
Other financial institutions are also seeking the central bank's nod for their real estate advisory, but the regulator has yet to provide approval because it is cautiously considering the issue to prevent any speculative activity in the property market.
«The new service will be exclusively offered to private banking customers, and the bank itself has no policy to include the property market in its investment portfolio,» said Jirawat Supornpaibul, Head of KBank's private banking division.
Growing Demand For Advice
Demand in real estate advisory services from high net worth customers has risen since the Finance Ministry announced plans for a beefed-up land and buildings tax.
KBank offers private banking services to clients with assets under management (AUM) of at least 50 million baht.
Lombard Odier A Partner
The Bangkok headquartered bank wants to add 300 new customers to its private banking business this year. Its total private banking customer base last year was 10,000.
The bank has also been working closely with Switzerland's Lombard Odier, the two have jointly developed financial products to serve Kasikornbank clients.
