The company said in a press release on Thursday that recipients get a full amount of funds with no deduction, from real-time to within three business days (T+3) depending on destination countries.

Aside from inexpensive fees, senders get an alert of the funds transfer result, the press release said.

Customers may make funds transfer up to US$49,999 (Bt1.5 million) per transaction daily with no minimum amount required for six currencies available to 20,000 banks with 77,000 branches in 24 countries worldwide. Special promotion of no transfer fee is offered to customers from May 15 to July 15, 2019.

Silawat Santivisat, KBank Senior Executive Vice President, said that KBank is always determined to develop financial products and services with the application of digital technologies for the optimum benefit of our customers. To this end, we have introduced international funds transfer via K PLUS as a new dimension for retail funds transfer.

In 2018, overseas funds transfer amount topped Bt650 billion, with more than 8 million transactions conducted. Of this, Bt150 billion or 450,000 transactions were made via KBank.

This time, KBank has collaborated with leading FinTech partners to develop a feature for overseas funds transfer to facilitate over 10.7 million K PLUS users and address their common problems such as inability to know the exact amount of money and time of funds received, requirement for them to visit a bank branch and documentation for money transfer as well as expensive fees.

The new feature targets customers wishing to make overseas funds transfer for goods payment, expats working in Thailand and parents with children studying abroad. The amount of funds transfers by these groups of customers is not high or around Bt100,000-200,000 per transaction.

At present, customers can transfer funds overseas via K PLUS in six currencies, namely, USD, GBP, HKD, SGD, AUD and EUR to more than 20,000 banks with 77,000 branches in 24 countries worldwide.

KBank has planned to increase the number of currencies and destination countries in the next phase of service. Customers can transfer up to US$49,999/transaction/day without any minimum requirement.

Funds can be transferred for one of five objectives: merchandise payment, consultant’s fee, students’ expenses, income repatriation by workers and remittance to family members with permanent residence overseas.

The customers can use this service only when their K PLUS is updated to the latest version. To promote the use of overseas funds transfer service via K PLUS, KBank will not charge any fee from May 15 to July 15, 2019.

After years of tepid growth, where the business struggled to compete against aggressive competitors and to understand fickle consumers, Nestle finally managed to break through and beat its targets at the end of 2018. At the end of the first quarter of this year, business growth exceeded the budget target by more than 20 per cent.

Victor Seah, who in May 2018 took over as chief executive of Nestle Indochina’s Bt44 billion operation in Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, believes that it was not more experience, expertise or resources that contributed to these results, but a change in the mindset of his leaders.

“We didn’t add people or make any unusual investments during this time, but the willingness of our leaders to work together and do what was best for our business in Indochina made the difference. As a result, we executed faster and more effectively,” he said.

Indeed, last September, Seah gathered his top 50 leaders at an offsite meeting in Hua Hin to debate and sort out key growth strategies for the upcoming 18 months. It was a critical time to gain traction on what Nestle needed to do to succeed in Indochina.

Most of the emphasis was placed on three business areas: core coffee business, opportunities in so-called liquid drinks, and how to strengthen distribution and sales.

“The offsite was the catalyst. It was as if a light bulb went off and people started collaborating and working together toward common goals, rather than operating in silos or on separate agendas,” said Seah. “The team elevated growth as our highest priority and simplified what needed to be done.”

What drove the success at this offsite meeting? In hindsight, much was due to Seah’s ability to motivate his leadership team to collaborate and synchronise its efforts. To do this, Seah had encouraged healthy dialogue during the offsite, where people were willing to say what was on their minds and share information openly. Even controversial issues were discussed in a constructive, respectful manner. As a result, the offsite was relaxed, yet productive. People left knowing exactly what they needed to do.

To lay the groundwork for healthy dialogue, prior to the offsite meeting, cross-functional teams were asked to develop integrated plans needed to succeed in their business areas. Participants were urged to think of driving growth as their first priority, and work together as a unified local market team, rather than with disparate functions.

Meanwhile, Seah empowered his team to execute with minimum interference from himself and others.

“As market head, it is my responsibility to ensure our leaders have the resources and freedom to execute the right strategies. If we compromise what we need to do, the competition will punish us,” he said.

Seah is not alone in facing this challenge.

For many multinationals, it is often the country manager’s role to create the right conditions for teams to implement the most competitive local strategies. Often this means making the right trade-offs between corporate policies and local market needs.

As Seah plans how to sustain Nestle’s growth engine through Indochina’s current political uncertainties and choppy economic times, he knows the importance of maintaining healthy dialogue, synchronisation and supporting his team’s commitments.

In fact, the company has just completed a series of employee engagement meetings where Seah and his leadership team met with over 3,500 employees across the Indochina region to communicate the vision and direction of Nestle Indochina for the future.

“There is no shortage of capabilities, talent and experience in Nestle,” said Seah. “And there is no business problem so big that we cannot solve it. My job is to ensure that everyone is aligned behind a common vision, is engaged to work together, and keeps their eyes on the prize.”

LARRY CHAO is managing director of Chao Group Limited, an organisation change consultancy based in New York and Bangkok since 1995 [www.chaogroup.com].

Don Charnsupharindr, director and retail banking head for Citi Thailand, said the company has partnered with Krungsri Asset Management to launch Krungsri World Tech Equity Hedged FX-A, which is invested in a high-performance offshore fund managed by BlackRock. The global investment firm focuses on investment in rising technology-driven companies. The fund will be sold exclusively|to Citigold clients of Citi Thailand via an initial public offering from |May 21-29.

Don said that the fund could help expand investment opportunities for retail investors while providing portfolio diversification.

Information from Citi analysts suggests there is an unstoppable trend of digital disruption, driven mainly by artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and automation, and blockchain. These forces have been powerful drivers of innovation and growth as their application spreads into all aspects of work and leisure. In particular, they are being employed in a wide range of applications across different industries.

 While markets have suffered falls recently, Citi analysts hold positive views on cyclical stocks, including those in the technology sector, and that such stocks will continue to outperform the defensives. However, this depends on economic growth. In the belief that the world economy recovers, Citi analysts expect that the technology sector could gain earnings of 9-10 per cent by the MSCI method of calculation, said Don.

Thanapol Itthinithipak, vice president of Southeast Asian retail and institutional business at BlackRock, said that over the past 10 years, the technology market has outperformed global benchmark and remains above the volatility index.

Thanapol said the technology market could grow by up to US$4.3 trillion and expand 23 per cent by 2022, owing to a global trend that has pushed technology and innovation into other businesses. Thanapol also cited consumer behaviour that is stimulating demand for more technology. Drivers of disruptive technologies that are in the spotlight include artificial intelligence, cloud computing, electric and autonomous vehicles, and the Internet of Things.

“The recent global market correction and high market volatility offer opportunities for investors to invest,” Thanapol said. In the past investors had worried about the higher prices of technology stocks, he added.

Anekporn Bodhidatta, chief distributor relationship officer at Krungsri Asset Management, said that Krungsri World Tech Equity Hedged FX: KFHTECH-A was a mutual fund that invests in a master fund named BGF World Technology Fund (Class D2, denominated in US dollars). It has been awarded a five-star rating by Morningstar rating and is managed by fund managers that have received top Citywire ratings. Its exchange rate risk is 90 per cent hedged.

Regarding the trade war, Don was optimistic that the US and China would eventually settle their disputes. “Yet, it is hard to make predictions about the direction of the trade war,” he said.

Anekporn advises that investors should adopt a strategy of dollar cost averaging for investing during market volatility.

Thanapol said investors should look at the longer term.

While the company will maintain its three major export markets – the United States, Europe and Japan – it now aims to further spread its products in newly emerging markets such as China and landlocked countries like Laos, as well as further penetrating the Thai market, said Rittirong Boonmechote, president of global frozen and related units at Thai Union Group.

“Competition is high in developed and high purchasing-power countries, while emerging markets are growing and have high potential for increase in purchasing power,” he said.

Moreover, the company is seeking to make more investments in Thailand and throughout Asia, as it would increase profits and make it easy to handle the return on investments, he said. He added that frozen food development in the country still has high potential to grow.

Thai Union’s booth at Seafood Expo Global in Brussels last week

Thai Union is the world’s largest producer of shelf-stable tuna products. Last year it acquired a 25.1 per cent stake in Thammachart Seafood Retail, which provides professional management services to Thai retailers for their seafood counters. Thai Union will acquire 40 per cent more in the firm this year, said Rittirong.

Apart from its core business, the company is also open to investing in businesses that use new technology or innovation in the food sector, such as protein from plants or insect protein in keeping with the global trend of increased use of natural protein.

“We are interested in any business, including startups for food tech, that can support a company’s ability to compete,” he added.

Rittirong sees a continuing positive future for the seafood industry as the number of seafood consumers is still increasing.

Due to health concerns, seafood is still popular, has huge demand, and has more room to grow than the poultry or beef industries, but we need to offer new products and also new markets as the global market is going through changes, said Rittirong.

Speaking at Seafood Expo Global in Brussels last week, Rittirong pointed out the demand and good price of salmon displayed at the event.

Unlike in the past, when only people in developed countries could afford the fish, emerging markets nowadays also have the ability to buy salmon, he explained.

Thai Union has projected this year’s sales growth at no less than 5 per cent of last year’s Bt133 billion, he noted.

The firm reported a 46.5 per cent year-on-year rise in its 2019 first-quarter net profit to Bt1.27 billion as operational improvements continued, gross margins recovered further and sales volumes increased.

He said the company is considering spinning off Thai Union Feedmill Co, a manufacturer and distributor of animal feed, which generates sales revenue of Bt4 billion to Bt5 billion annually.

It plans to seek listing on the Stock Exchange of Thailand in June and make an initial public offering in November this year.

Future of shrimp feed

On the sidelines of the seafood expo, Thai Union introduced the world’s first commercially farmed shrimp fed with FeedKind protein produced from natural gas.

Delegates at the expo tasted pan-fried shrimp farmed from a feed using FeedKind protein and marine ingredients derived from Thai Union tuna byproducts.

Allan LeBlanc, vice president of Calysta and FeedKind product manager, and Tracy Cambridge, the responsible sourcing director (Europe) for Thai Union Group  at Seafood Expo Global in Brussels

The project, a joint collaboration between the seafood giant and leading alternative protein producer Calysta, is part of Thai Union’s sustainability strategy, Rittirong said.

By working with FeedKind, we are able to offer shrimp that have been grown using feed that has completely replaced fish caught for fishmeal in the feed with the innovative alternative protein, he said.

Rittirong called FeedKind the future of shrimp feed, and said it was very important because consumers cared more about where the shrimp came from as well as what they ate.

Thai Union introduced the “sustainable” shrimp feed in response to global demand for food security.

“We try to respond to several types of clients, especially those from European markets that pay more attention to sustainable and high-quality products and ask us if we could feed shrimp with zero fishmeal food,” he added.

FeedKind protein contains a unique carbon signature that can help the food industry provide traceability and integrity to its supply chain.

As a sustainable alternative protein, FeedKind also enables shrimp farmers to increase their output to meet growing global demand without putting extra pressure on the planet’s resources, replacing fishmeal from wild fish specifically caught for protein in shrimp feed.

The firm is now in trials for FeedKind at its shrimp farm in Satun province.

Initial testing has shown that the taste of shrimp fed with fishmeal and FeedKind were not different but shrimp fed with FeedKind had slightly slower rate of growth than shrimp fed with fishmeal.

“It is continuing to develop,” Rittirong added.

The investment cost of using the protein is 14 per cent higher than for fishmeal, but he believes the cost would go down once there is high demand.

Under the plan, the company will invest Bt2 billion in three core areas. The first is technology development to boost efficiency in sales, information, marketing, logistics and inventory, as well as comprehensive customer service. The second is expansion of distribution centres, sub-distribution branches and sales teams to support increasing numbers of trading partners and product categories. And the third area to get investment is introduction of new online and offline distribution channels, including vending machines for better retailer coverage and consumer outreach while improving overseas business opportunities through TCP’s network.

TCP is one of Thailand’s leading consumer goods manufacturers, and the owner of many well-known beverage and snack brands including Red Bull, Ready, Sponsor, Puriku and Sun Snack.

Durbell has also set a target to reach Bt30 billion in annual sales revenue in the next three years and is looking to increase the proportion of brands from outside the TCP Group to 60 per cent, up from 40 per cent today.

Saravoot Yoovidhya, TCP Group’s chief executive officer, said that the three-year business plan aims to support TCP’s vision to be among Thailand’s most admired corporations and to triple TCP’s sales to Bt100 billion in 2022. It also serves to take Durbell to the next level as a specialist in consumer goods distribution with the ability to offer its current and potential trading partners comprehensive advice and service covering all marketing channels, right from production to distribution, as well as sales and marketing strategy courtesy of their sales teams of long-time employees.

Surachai Chonglertvarawong, managing director of Durbell Co Ltd, said theirs is a company that has been in the business for a long time and has a strong business infrastructure for goods distribution. At the end of 2018, the company recorded over Bt17 billion in revenues, and is expected to nearly double that to over Bt30 billion within three years so as to be a true leader in distribution services.

Surachai said Durbell sees changes in the business world where disruption is increasingly the new normal, which is completely transforming their work. Therefore, the company has prepared itself, especially in corporate structure and human resources, logistics and technology in order to be able to harness innovations to increase efficiency and better its services for its trading partners and customers.

Under the three-year plan to cope with a potential increase in the number of trading partners outside TCP, Durbell has invested in a range of technology systems with an emphasis on sales and distribution management, warehouse management, business intelligence and customer relationship management.

“We plan to add another major distribution centre and five sub-distribution branches within three years in high-potential provinces,” said Surachai. “We’re looking to add 200 more sales trucks and at least 400 sales staff. When the existing branches and the new ones to be opened are combined, Durbell will have a total of 30 sales offices with built-in sub-distribution centres. The company will be among just a few operators with a big national coverage.”

Durbell is currently operating 24 sub-distribution branches and cover 140,000 retail stores throughout the country including mom-and-pop shops, wholesale stores, convenience stores and modern trades. The company takes only two days to bring products to stores, the shortest time in the industry. It has also more than 300 delivery trucks and 600 mobile sales teams together with 2,200 sales and support staff.