Siam Commercial Bank
Siam Commercial Bank emerges as a worthy winner of this award. The Bangkok-based lender is an important regional financial partner for China and for mainland firms, small and large.
During the awards period, it worked on some standout deals for Chinese corporates. It helped China Harbour Engineering co-finance the third phase of Map Ta Phut Industrial Port, a key link in Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor.
SCB also financed a new high-end residential development, close to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, owned by Risland (Thailand) and China’s Country Garden, and joined forces with Chinese white goods firm Haier to create a digital payment solution linked to the firm’s Smart Home system.
The bank reckons it accounted for 14.22% of all bilateral trade transactions completed between China and Thailand during the first four months of 2020, up from 12.48% in the whole of 2019.
What really stands out though is the bank’s innovative qualities in the context of this award, notably in its ability to identify products that mainland clients might like, and then to push ahead with developing them.
Take the software SCB designed in-house, which slots directly into the platforms of China’s leading e-commerce players, connecting Thai businesses directly with more than one billion Chinese consumers.
Or the dollar-denominated offshore loan it extended to Abakus Group, enabling the China-based fintech firm to expand its consumer lending business into Thailand.
Over the last year, SCB deepened its relationship with the firm by launching Monix, a new online consumer lending business that aims to boost financial inclusion in a country where up to a fifth of the people have no access to a formal bank account. SCB owns a 60% in the joint venture.