Bangkok Bank
Bangkok Bank is a stalwart of Thailand’s banking community, renowned for being ultra-loyal to its customers, who have a happy tendency to return the favour.
The bank sprawls across the financial spectrum under chief executive Chartsiri Sophonpanich, boasting one of the largest domestic banking networks, as well as offices in 12 Asian nations, including Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia, and the US and the UK.
But when it comes to banking the nation’s smaller companies, it really shines. When asked to pinpoint the best Thai bank focused on small and medium-sized enterprises, experts point to this lender, with its headquarters on Bangkok’s Silom Road. “It’s the best in that sector, bar none,” says a banker at a rival financial institution.
Analysts concur. One of the ways it stands out from the crowd is with its sheer range of lending services, and its ‘loans for any business’ pledge is no conceit. Bualuang Ventures, a wholly owned venture capital subsidiary, specializes in extending capital to SMEs and start-up firms with a good growth potential. The Bualuang Tan Jai Loan service extends credit lines of up to Bt10 million ($300,000) to small businesses seeking working capital.
Bualuang also specializes in green loans of up to Bt1 million for projects that aim to cut energy usage. And it has separate lending and banking plans for aspiring entrepreneurs who want to own a franchise, or to launch or fund SMEs with a combined asset value of less than Bt5 million. An accelerator programme called InnoHub, set up in June 2017, aims to provide financial support for the country’s best digital innovators.