BANK OF AYUDHYA or Krungsri plans to set up a new venture-capital subsidiary to oversee its investment in start-ups and financial-technology (fintech) operators.
Siam Commercial Bank and Kasikornbank have already launched venture-capital companies to invest in start-ups and fintech. Thakorn Piyapan, head of Krungsri's consumer group, said it had acknowledged that it should separate fin-tech management from the bank's core operations to enhance flexibility, noting that Krungsri had said earlier that it could handle venture capital internally.
The initial registered capital of the new subsidiary is set at Bt10 million, he said.
The bank will divide its venture-capital investment into three phases. The first stage is investment via domestic and foreign funds in order to become familiar with new fintech trends. The second and third stages will entail direct investment in fintech operators and start-ups that already have products the bank is interested in.
Investment decisions will comply with Krungsri Group's own agenda, while the parent bank - Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ - will provide advice. BTMU has its own international venture-capital investments already, Thakorn said.