KKP leads the way in innovation and cautious growth.

“KKP plans to use technology and data to elevate the bank from a product provider to a ‘financial partner’ that understands its customers’ objectives, aiming to be a financial advisor throughout every stage of their lives.”

"Kampol Chantavibul" The people behind the success of... KKP Dime is a subsidiary of Kiatnakin Phatra Financial Group (KKP). The application pioneered the trading of US stocks for retail investors and has now surpassed 4 million downloads. With diverse experience in capital markets, securities firms, money markets, and digital finance at Siam Commercial Bank, he joined KKP as the Chief Executive Officer of KKP Dime Securities Co., Ltd. in 2564.

Currently, Kamphol is stepping into a new role as the President and CEO of Kiatnakin Phatra Bank, continuing the mission of integrating financial solutions and service channels in a comprehensive manner, aiming to create an ecosystem that provides customers with the easiest and most convenient experience.

Kamphol Chantavibul, President and CEO of Kiatnakin Phatra Bank. It was revealed that the key objective is to make KKP more than just a provider of financial products, but a trusted partner who understands the objectives and needs of customers at each stage of their lives and offers solutions that precisely meet those needs.

At the same time, it is necessary to accelerate the use of technology to enhance service capabilities and create a seamless customer experience across all channels, both online and offline, and tailored to each individual customer. Therefore, to achieve this goal, the bank will continue to develop its infrastructure, including IT, data, and processes, to be stable, secure, and provide a good user experience, and will empower its human resources to maximize productivity.

“KKP plans to use technology and data to elevate the bank from being more than just a product provider, but a ‘financial partner’ that understands the objectives of its customers, in line with the goal of being a financial partner throughout the lives of its customers.”

Moving forward with cautious growth.
Amid economic risks.

Kamphol stated that the overall banking business landscape has changed from the past. Currently, banks must conduct business with a high degree of safety amidst economic challenges. Similarly, KKP is also operating under a cautious environment.

The strong performance last year was partly due to improved credit quality, reducing the need for provisions. However, maintaining a strong capital base is still crucial. Currently, the bank has a Tier 1 capital ratio of 17-18%, reflecting maximum safety.

While credit expansion is slower compared to the past, KKP projects credit growth to remain stable in 2569, not aiming for exponential growth. The credit target for 2569 is approximately 0% or slightly positive, partly due to the high level of household debt relative to GDP, which makes lending difficult.

KKP's lending strategy focuses on niche markets. Currently, KKP has a total auto loan portfolio of approximately 140,000 billion baht, with about 60% of that being used cars. KKP has always positioned itself as an expert in the used car market, thanks to its long-standing and strong relationships with dealers.

Kamphol stated that the used car market is currently stabilizing, and there's a phenomenon of many used car dealerships disappearing from the market. Overall, the demand for cars is trending downwards in the long term due to improved transportation in Bangkok from the BTS Skytrain system and a demographic structure with a lower birth rate, naturally leading to decreased demand. He believes that at some point, the market will stabilize, similar to what has happened in Japan.

In 2569, KKP aims to maintain a stable auto loan portfolio, focusing on credit quality screening rather than rapid growth, in order to control non-performing loans. The company will also begin marketing electric vehicle (EV) loans, specifically targeting high-quality EVs priced at 1 million baht or more, and focusing on customers purchasing for actual use. The target for new auto loan disbursements in 2569 is 3.8 billion baht, with a significant portion (in the billions) being EVs.

While home loan growth is projected to stabilize in 2569, demand in the real estate market is declining. This is driven by Thailand's low birth rate and high household debt-to-GDP ratio, making it difficult to secure loans for homes priced under 3 million baht. Most financial institutions are becoming more cautious in considering loans in this segment.

Therefore, KKP plans to focus on pre-owned home loans, viewing it as a way to promote the circulation of existing assets and meet the needs of customers who are starting to show interest in returning to live in the city, especially those buying pre-owned houses or commercial buildings for renovation, which offer more usable space than condominiums.

To support this strategy, the bank is preparing to launch the KKP Propify platform by April 2569. This platform will address the pain points of the resale housing market, such as duplicate listings and inaccurate pricing. The platform will only feature verified property listings and display the true market price.

KKP Propify will feature accurate search capabilities and a loan amount calculator tailored to buyers' financial status, increasing confidence in their decision-making and reducing the likelihood of loan rejection after booking. Initially, the goal is to add 3,000-4,000 homes to the system, focusing on Bangkok and its surrounding areas.

"KKP aims to increase its market share in the resale housing segment to 5% from its current level of less than 1%."

Kamphol mentioned KKP's Wealth Management business, known as "EDGES," which can be divided into two groups: those with assets of 50 million baht or more, numbering fewer than 10,000 clients, and focusing on in-depth and personalized care.

The asset group worth 10-50 million baht comprises tens of thousands of individuals, a group with more complex life challenges than the upper-income group because for some, business and personal matters are intertwined.

The sub-10 million baht group is for KKP Dime, focusing on the 100% use of technology and AI to control costs while maintaining the credibility of the securities firm.

“If we compare clients with portfolios exceeding 50 million baht to First Class, which prioritizes maximum privacy, then the 10-50 million baht segment is like Business Class, which values ​​the value of money and return on investment. This includes not only capital growth but also asset protection through insurance products and tax planning.”

Kamphol stated that caring for this customer segment won't involve constant one-on-one attention, but they will still receive an experience similar to that of the higher-end segment. This includes online consultations using the same level of content and analysis.

However, because employing Relationship Managers (RMs) to handle a large number of customers is costly, KKP has implemented a hybrid system to increase efficiency through a Hybrid (Online to Offline) model to reduce service costs (Cost to Serve) while maintaining the quality of advice.

"The bank is preparing to use a hybrid system for scheduling appointments with experts via the application. This will involve both online consultations and offline meetings. When customers arrive at the branch, staff will immediately see the information previously discussed in the chat, eliminating the need to re-explain the situation. This ensures higher quality and more targeted consultations."

This hybrid service model, combining online and offline services, will increase efficiency by up to five times compared to when employees have to travel to meet clients. The appointment system is expected to be available by the end of March.

Currently, total assets under management (AUM) across all asset classes have exceeded 1 trillion baht. A significant portion of KKP's strong performance stems from fee income generated in this segment. KKP aims to expand its customer base in the 10-50 million baht asset class to 100,000 clients, up from the current tens of thousands.

While KKP's investment services offer distinctive products such as Private Equity funds or unlisted assets, which are rare elsewhere, this is a key magnet attracting clients from other financial institutions to switch to their services. Furthermore, there are plans to use AI to summarize KKP's lengthy English-language investment analyses, making it easier for clients to access reliable investment information online.

“We are preparing to launch a new feature that uses AI to summarize KKP's analysis and data from reliable sources to answer customer questions. Importantly, this AI doesn't just randomly scan data from the internet; instead, we use AI based on KKP's own accurate analysis database to provide customers with reliable and easy-to-understand advice.”

Dime, my favorite.
Young investors

In addition to his position as President and CEO of Kiatnakin Phatra Bank, Kamphol also serves as the first and current CEO of KKP Dime, a company within the Kiatnakin Financial Group. KKP Dime was established in 2564 with the goal of revolutionizing the financial and investment business, making finance and investment accessible to everyone by leveraging its expertise in data analytics, digital technology, and a customer-centric work culture.

The word "Dime" refers to both a small amount of money and a perfect ten, aligning with the objective of providing customers with access to a wide range of financial services at the lowest initial investment, lowest cost, most convenient, and most personalized levels, all driven entirely by digital technology.

Dime's personnel are at the heart of this mission, almost all of whom are technology experts such as Data Scientists, Data Engineers, and Software Developers. They share the same ideals of creating access to the best possible financial world for customers, helping to reduce inequality, a major problem in the country.

Kamphol stated that Dime currently has over 4 million downloads. Dime's customer base is young people, with the majority being Gen Z (50%) and Gen Y (47%), while the remaining 3% are Gen X and Baby Boomers.

Dime aims to acquire approximately 50,000-60,000 new customers per month. Its core focus is on accessibility and cost control through technology that replaces human labor. This results in a low per-customer cost because it relies entirely on automation, such as using AI to summarize analysis from Morningstar, providing high-quality information to customers at a lower cost.

“Although Dime is an app for retail investors, it has rigorous source of wealth verification and identity confirmation processes in accordance with banking standards to prevent money laundering, and limits daily investment to 1 million baht.”

Meanwhile, portfolio diversification (Multiple Portfolios) is another key feature that allows investors to separate their funds according to their objectives, such as separating a dividend-paying stock portfolio from a trading portfolio, to clearly show the returns separated from each other.

However, Dime's current investments primarily focus on US stocks due to its high performance and liquidity as the largest market in the world. Expansion into other markets, such as the Chinese stock market, is still under consideration.

Kamphol added that in 2569, Dime plans to launch a feature allowing children under 20 years old to open investment accounts, responding to Dime's popularity among young people who, despite being under 20, want to start investing but are not yet able to open an account themselves.

"Dime will have a Guardian Account function, where a child can choose their own investments while the parent sees all investments, but the child cannot transfer money out themselves; they can only transfer it back to the parent's account."

Follow and read other columns in the March 2569 Bank Finance Journal, Issue 527, in digital format: https://goo.gl/U6OnIi

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