KTC reveals an intense competition in the personal loans business. The firm plans to advance its operations to build sustained growth in the second half of the year from real customer demands. Aims to release personal loans with joint objectives with businesses alliances with high growth tendencies. Initiating with personal loans for education at four leading language institutions, targeting those who wish to further their education for career development which are customers that are more likely to have growth in income above standards and have discipline with payments. Additionally the firm is developing products and services to cater to consumers’ changing behavior in the digital age along with long-term and sustained marketing activities to lighten members’ expenses from the outset since registration to nearly a million existing registered customers. An increase of 10% in personal loans receivables compared to the previous year is expected by the end of this year.
Ms. Phichamon Jitpentham, Vice President - Personal Loans, “KTC” or Krungthai Card Public Company Limited, states, “The personal loans business is increasingly competitive these days as more entrepreneurs are competing along with changing consumer behavior in the digital age. Conveniency and timeliness in access to information is a factor consumers search for. The man challenge for business practitioners today is to come up with ways to reach “all groups” of customers at the “right time” in a “satisfied manner”.
“Given these reasons, KTC is intensifying its advancement for our marketing plan for the personal loans business in the second half of the year. We will emphasize the quality of debtors and continuous growth following the four main core values: 1) Focus on releasing personal loans with objectives to target new customers; 2) Maintain and establish long-term relationships with member base; 3) Develop the merits and “KTC PROUD” services to meet the needs of consumer behavior which favors conveniency and timeliness in the digital age and 4) Create customer engagement to fully reach target audiences.”
“In terms of releasing personal loans with objectives KTC will aim to expand collaborations with business that have tendencies to have high growth and with continuous demands in the market. This is to create a sustained business growth. The firm has launched education loans jointly with four leading language institutions 44 branches including Wall Street English, Champ EngRish, Language Express and Inspire English, to provide personal loans to customers who desire funds to expand their knowledge at participating institutions. Interested customers may directly register and submit documents to institutions and will know their approval results within an hour with the option to pay in installments with 0% special interest rate up to 24 months. KTC’s research on its customer base behavior reveals that the number of customers who wish to self-develop for career advancement is increasingly growing, and this group of people is more likely to experience increases in income in the future. Expanding this customer group will not only have a positive effect on KTC’s total average personal loans credit limit usage, but those who make loans with an objective will also have more discipline with loan payments compared to regular loans. This will help generate consistent long-term growth for KTC. Moreover, the firm plans to proliferate its number of alliances in the education sector and provide more personal loans with different objectives in the future.”
“Maintaining and establishing customer base in the long-term in the second half of the year will still focus on using debt relief strategies which proved to be effective and generated great positive feedback. We will emphasize “all-out,” “priority,” “giving more,” and “giving consistently” from the outset beginning from registration to become new personal loan members to existing members in the port. This will be done through two hit campaigns: 1) “KTC PROUD Promotion Pay interest only Bt. 199” for new members to pay only Bt. 199 for interest for the first two billing cycle for registrations from May 1, 2019 to August 31, 2019 and 2) “10th Season of Debt-Clearing” for nearly one million “KTC PROUD” members to get chances to win the 100% debt relief grand prize. This year the firm will add specialness with up to 10 rounds and lucky draws every month in 2019.”
“We must admit that the digital age has a distinct effect on consumer behavior. KTC has therefore developed characteristics and “KTC PROUD” Cash Card services to meet the needs of consumers who prefer conveniency and timeliness. KTC has developed two services: 1) Online cash withdrawals receive real-time direct cash transfers with the option for 3% interest for minimum payments or cash installment option through the “KTC Mobile” application and 24 hours on the “KTC Online” website according to the existing credit limit, and 2) Asset installments for online merchants service. The service has been piloted at “Aurora" Gold and Jewelry with a special monthly interest rate of 1.29% through the Aurora website and Papapay Mobile Application. Moreover, establishing long-term relationships is something KTC has always prioritized for “KTC PROUD” members. This is done through bimonthly workshop activities to inspire fruitful motivation that meet members’ demands under the Quality of Life concept that focuses on fostering knowledge to create side jobs for additional income as well as knowledge for money planning and saving for members.”
“The overall growth of the personal loans industry in the first quarter of the year remains positive and likewise for KTC which displayed a positive growth as well. Personal loans receivable equated to Bt. 26.483 billion, a 8.2 percent growth compared to the previous year. Port of KTC personal loans numbered 967,059 accounts, a 12.8 percent spike, while NPL for personal loans is 0.78 percent, a drop from 0.82 percent (3.49 percent in the industry). The market share for personal loans business remains at 5.4 percent of the industry. It is expected that KTC will achieve its goals as expected within the end of year with an overall 10 percent growth in total receivables.”