TMB executives yesterday launched the Me Move account for users of the bank’s mobile banking application that have a registered savings account, marketed as Me Save. This account offers interest rates 4.5 times higher than comparable savings accounts provided by other lenders, the bank claims.

Mingkwan Pattanawong, head of retail marketing of TMB and ME by TMB, said that ME by TMB became a truly digital bank six years ago with the opening of a digital deposit account under a concept that allows self-management of accounts for higher returns.

Benjarong Suwankiri, head of ME by TMB in charge of product and service strategies, said ME Move is a digital purse designed to facilitate daily transactions like money transfers and payments for products or utilities. ME Move’s special feature lies in the intelligent technology “Balance Sweep”, which automatically transfers customers’ balance to their ME Save accounts, Benjarong said. Customers can specify their preferred balance in ME Move accounts and Sweep settings on the daily, weekly and monthly basis. Then, the amount above the set balance levels will be automatically transferred to ME Save, allowing the account holders to earn deposit rates of 1.7 per cent a year or 4.5 per cent of savings rates in general.

“This feature is the first ever to be offered in Thailand,” Benjarong said. “Our goal is to have existing and new customers open 40,000 ME Move accounts by the end of this year.”

Some 330,000 depositors have opened Me Save accounts since TMB launched the initiative six years ago.

“Although the TMB offers higher interest rates, it can save on costs as it does not need to open more bank branches,” Benjarong said.

Most of the depositors are members of the Generation Y and Generation Z age groups.

Benjarong said younger people prefer doing banking with their mobile phones. Those older people who are familiar with mobile banking are expected to like the new product and services, too, he said.

“Our philosophy is to assist savers to have more savings,” he said.

There are about 80 million savings accounts in the banking system as large numbers of depositors have put a combined Bt4.7 trillion into savings accounts with very low interest rates.

According to the Bank of Thailand, savers lose about Bt50 billion a year by placing their cash in savings accounts, Benjarong quoted the central bank as saying.

In April, there were 95.4 million bank accounts in the country, holding Bt12.5 trillion.

“We will continue to expand our network, building more and more sites every single month in the next three years,” he said in an interview.

Sinfield said the firm plans to build more than 2,500 macro sites and a very large number of small-scale sites in three years, covering the whole Yangon and other cities.

“In terms of the number that we are rolling out month by month, our target is quite significant. We want to make sure we build enough sites in Yangon and Mandalay so we can provide the best services to the people there. We are now actively working on that,” he said.

Over the past six months, the firm has been making plans to build its network in Mandalay, the second city where its service will be available. It also plans to open shops under its own brand in Mandalay, where traffic analysis is being done to ensure the high-speed data services that residents are looking for, he said.

“Like what we did in Yangon, we will do a launch event in Mandalay soon,” said Sinfield.

The firm launched its service in Yangon six weeks ago, and received a lot of positive feedback from customers, he said.

“We have exceeded our first month’s target. We have more people subscribing to our services than what we expected. Currently, the demand for our services is rising month by month, which is music to our ears. We are on target to continue that trend,” he said.

Having joined the firm in early June, Sinfield has plans to leverage his experience in nearly 50 markets including those in Asia and Africa. He also worked in Thailand, Cambodia, Hong Kong, South Korea and Vietnam for many years.

“As a nascent market, Myanmar has incredible potential and wonderful challenges. It is an exciting time to be in the telecom industry here at this moment in time and to be part of Ananda, which is committed to bringing an innovative new dimension of service to the market,” he said.

“I have a lot of experience in rolling out fibre and broadband networks, delivering high-speed data solutions to customers. I believe I can move Ananda forward. Over the coming months, you will start to see things happen,” Sinfield said.

He said the firm has huge plans in the short and medium terms, in addition to improving its capability and skills.

“We have a lot of expansion plans. There are major initiatives under way – to grow business, to improve products and services, and to expand our network. We will allow the people to expand their horizons,” he said.

“We have a specialist team of network planning and network optimisation. Every single day of the week, we are working on how we improve the sites, the speed and all other things.”

Sinfield rejected criticism of the company on such social networks such as Facebook over a “potential speed limit” if one downloads too much. He claimed Ananda customers download 10 times more data than those of any other network in Myanmar.

“Our speed is very fast in many areas. We might have some congestion in some networks with a lot of users, perhaps in the downtown areas during the daytime. That does not mean the rest of our network is bad,” he said.

“We do not set the speed. It depends on the number of users on a particular network. There may be different speeds in different locations but we will make sure we provide fantastic speed.”

The PVP E-Sports Championship marks the first such initiative by the Singtel, with the partners saying they want to encourage the development of “an ecosystem for e-sport throughout the region”.

The move is a part of the Singapore telecommunications operator’s efforts to grow its gaming and digital content business throughout the Asia Pacific region. The PVP E-Sports Championship in Singapore is supported by Singapore Tourism Board.

The Asia Pacific is the world’s fastest growing region for e-sport audiences, with numbers expected to increase to about 290 million by 2021 from 167 million in 2017. In Southeast Asia, the e-sport audience is expected to more than double from 20 million in 2017 to over 40 million by 2019. As audiences grow, e-sport is pushing into the sporting mainstream.

Under the PVP E-Sports Championship, teams will complete at local qualifiers in each country. The winning teams from each country will move on to battle professional teams from North America, Europe, and China at the regional tournament in Singapore in October.

In Thailand, AIS will hold the Thailand PVP E-Sports Championship Powered by AIS event from July to October. Would-be competitors can start applying to take part in contests to find the two winning leagues in mobile and PC gaming.

This tournament focuses on two popular games: ROV (mobile game) and DOTA2 (PC game) and offers winners regional prizes totalling more than Bt11.5 million.

Pratthana Leelapanang AIS’s chief consumer business officer, said the company’s entry into the games industry is aimed at creating new value for millennials. “This is a big group and we aim to bring AIS brands and services to this group,” said Pratthana.

“We really want to tap this millennial segment. Currently, the total millennial population in Thailand is 15 million.”

AIS already has a third of this market segment and no one else is fully addressing this group’s needs, Pratthana said.

E-sports have enjoyed exponential growth among the region’s millennials since its inclusion as a demonstration sport in the 2018 Asian Games.

The e-sports industry in Thailand has also seen dramatic growth. Thailand’s e-sports community comprises more than 30 million amateur and professional gamers as well as tournament viewers.

Pratthana said that around Bt20 billion is spent on the games industry in Thailand, with PC and mobile platforms contributing about half of this each.

Arthur Lang, chief executive officer of Singtel’s international group, said that content such as e-sports are key to Singtel Group’s strategy to engage its customers, many of whom are millennials. Mobile-based games, in particular, have gained a strong following in this region where the mobile phone is the main device of choice, he said.

“With the group’s network leadership and reach across Southeast Asia, we are excited about building a vibrant e-sports ecosystem to provide gamers and fans access to local, regional and global e-sports competitions as well as original content and exclusive programming,” Lang said.

Executives of the listed company, along with Siam Commercial Bank and Phatra Securities – the two underwriters – on Tuesday celebrated the closing of the subscription period, which saw institutional and high-net-worth investors taking up the entire allotments.

“It’s a mission completed and we have secured the funds to support our refinancing programme and cash-flow management,” BGrimm president Preeyanart Soontornwata declared.

The amortised debentures, issued on May 31 by BGrimm BIP Power 1 Ltd and BGrimm BIP Power 2 Ltd, both subsidiaries of B.Grimm, came in two equal tranches of Bt3.35 billion.

The debt instruments were assigned an “A-” rating with “Stable” prospect by TRIS Rating.

With a 15-year maturity, the debentures, classified as senior bonds with debenture holders’ representatives, carry a constant interest rate of 3.95 per cent per annum, payable every six months.

The funds from the debenture issue will result in a financing-cost saving of Bt350 million, or 1.2-1.6 per cent, for the two subsidiaries, Preeyanart said.

The national carrier earned operational safety certification in 2004 and it has been consistently renewed ever since.

The first phase of the renovation, covering the hotel’s lobby and reception area, began on July 1 and is expected to be finished in mid-August.

“Just over 12 months after the successful opening of ibis Bangkok Impact, the announcement of this upgrade to the four-star Novotel lobby and reception area as part of a greater Bt26-million injection signifies the confidence we have in the meetings, exhibition and incentives business at Impact,” said Fraser McKenzie, the hotel’s general manager

Phanwadee, co-founder of the hotel, said that the inspiration behind its creation is the childhood memory of Pattaya as a favourite leisure destination for her family.

“My family members and I grew up with the experience of relying on our own accommodation in Pattaya as a weekend house. We feel bound to the city,” she said.

“Every time we stay in Pattaya the city always reminds me of the old days when we were kids,” added Phanwadee, 39, who is also general manager of the hotel.

She said the 20-room Noursabah hotel started operations in 2016 after two years of construction. “The hotel has 10 employees, including three front office staff who speak three languages – Thai, English and Malay. Although, the room rate is about Bt2,000 per night, all our guests can enjoy free a minibar in every room type,” Phanwadee said.

“We had no experience of the hotel business before, and what we have done with Noursabah Pattaya is that we have adjusted and improved our boutique hotel continuously time over time.

“Noursabah Pattaya is a family business and our first inspiration is our beloved mum who owned this land. We set out to create a small boutique place, feeling like a second home for stays in Pattaya, which is the city we always came to on holidays when we were young.”

Phanwadee said Noursabah Pattaya showcases hybrid architecture with a combination of Thai and colonial, as well as Arabic styles, and “this represents grassroots identity of the family”.

“Noursabah Pattaya is a cultural boutique hotel. We are Thai Muslims who live in this country, so we would like to share the idea of beauty by blending in different cultural things,” she said

“We would like to promote Pattaya as a city on the bright side, cosy for friends, couples and a general family place,” she said, adding that the main target customers are foreign and Thai travellers, with around 40 per cent for the latter.

“We did not set up the visitor targets based on the demographics of the guests, but according to their favoured lifestyles, such as guests who prefer taking photographs or those who love design and architecture,” said Phanwadee.

“At Noursabah Pattaya, we do not sell guest rooms, but valuable moments and impressive experiences of staying at our hotel,” she said. “We have designed our small hotel in a narrow alley, cosy and peaceful with the character of a Thai colonial building and marble spa pool. Guests will also enjoy taking photos here because of the white background and design of the buildings. If guests love to take photos, we guarantee that they will have a great shot here that they can use in their profile pictures.

“Moreover, we serve our guests like they come to a second home. Our facilities and homely services create valuable experiences for all our guests who stay at Noursabah Pattaya.”

Phanwadee said that there around 2,000 hotels in Pattaya, including chain hotels and private villas as well as budget hotels and residences.

“We have not set out to compete against any of the big chain hotels in the city. There are still people who love some small things. They can be couples in love, family members, and even single travellers,” she said.

Phanwadee said that the hotel has adopted key marketing and communication strategies under the concept “Let the guests tell everyone what they feel and what we are”.

“This is a word-of-mouth strategy that we using on every channel, especially in the social media world. With this strategy, the guests communicate to the social network the experiences they get from us,” she said.

“We always listen to what individual guests are talking about us as shown in the guest reviews or comments, with the aim of improving ourselves continuously.”

Phanwadee said that her ambition is to make Noursabah Pattaya one of the best boutique hotels in the country, especially on the delivery of quality services to customers.

“What we are trying to do is be better every day. We believe that Thailand is one the best countries in which people can travel and that if offers the best in hospitality and food,” she said.

“What we have is a charming city, with the blending of different cultures.

“We know that as a small hotel, we are making a small contribution to the country’s tourism industry. And we will try our best to become one of the best small cultural boutique hotels, highlighting design and service in our way.”

Phanwadee said the company has plans to developing new projects in Pattaya and Bangkok.

The company, with its partners, aims to increase its distribution channels to gain more customers while focusing on “proactive digital marketing orientation” is also included in order to reach 15 per cent growth in a pet food market worth Bt1.3 billion.

Chadon Suwanarit, managing director of Royal Canin (Thailand) Co Ltd, said the company was established in 1967 by French veterinarian Jean Cathary, with the French brand entering the Thai market in 2005.

“The company provides all dogs and cats in this world with accessibility to the best nutritional diets from the first to the last meals of their lives, makes Royal Canin different from other competitors in the market,” Chadon said.

“Royal Canin also believes that it doesn’t take many years for technology in animal food production to develop or even to resemble each other. However, what cannot be imitated are the concept and inspiration in developing diets for pets by Royal Canin and this comes down to two key points.

“The first is knowledge and respect, which involves research and study on the natural behaviours of dogs and cats prior to developing each diet formula,” Chadon said. “The second is the concept of Dogs and Cats First. The concept focuses on developing each diet formula to be the most appropriate to the nature of dogs and cats from our research and development team, including scientific innovative diet formulas proven for the outcomes by dogs and cats themselves, as well as keeping up with standard production control worldwide.”

Chadon said the market overview for pet food products in Thailand is around Bt2.5 billion and Bt2.6 billion.

“The market value of pet food itself is worth more than Bt1.3 million or the ratio is around 45 per cent of the total value of pet’s product market,” Chadon said.

There are more than 20 brands for both imported and domestic pet food in Thailand and this is increasing in line with an increase in the number of pets over the past five years, Chadon said. In 2017, there were about 12 million cats and dogs in Thailand, with 8 millions being dogs.

“Therefore, growth of not less than 5 per cent for dog and cat food is expected in 2018, with a higher ratio for cat food,” Chadon said.

“The growth opportunity for dog and cat food business will keep continuing as a result of the key factor, low accessibility or calories conversion to pet food in the Thai market, with around 22.4 per cent for dog food and 46.7 per cent for cat food.

“The company plans to expand the market for health nutrition diet for dogs and cats by providing the correct knowledge and understanding to pet owners, as well as to increase distribution channels to customers for continuous growth and to focus on proactive marketing using digital marketing orientation in order to support the growth of the market in the future.”

With Royal Canin’s 50th anniversary, the company plans to strengthen its efforts to provide good customer relationship management through marketing activities and channels to suit pet owners’ lifestyles.

“The company also sees the importance of store development in order to have business competition ability, as well as product knowhow training for product advisers to have knowledge and understanding to be able to recommend proper product to pet owners correctly,” Chadon said.

Chadon also Bt200 million budget will be used to create brand awareness and the quality of the brand in order to introduce customers to the product. “Moreover, integrated marketing communication (IMC) will be emphasised by presentation via various social media regularly.

“The purpose is to educate pet owners to have knowledge and understand on appropriate nutrition and diet for dogs and cats since they are very different from human, and to transform to pet food product instead of self-prepared food. The purpose is to accelerate the company’s growth to at least 15 per cent. In the past five years, the growth of the company has been more than 20 per cent in average.”

The key factors on the continuous growth of dog and cat food market is because the behavior of new generation have changed over social conditions and lifestyle such as slower and lower rate of marriage, lower rate of parenthood, higher single status, more single family living or single living orientation, including the increment of senior society. These are the factors for people to own more dogs or cats and replace them as friends or children. At the same time, pet owners have been more awared on their pet well beings and have more purchasing ability in order to spend more on their pets, Chadon said.

Plus Property, the full-service professional property and facility management agency, reveals that millennials are buying condos with less than 30 square metres of space and with prices between Bt130,000 and Bt300,000 per square metre. This fact is due to millennials’ emphasis on well-utilised space.

It is therefore probable that projects under concept ‘Sharing Economy’ will experience a boom in the future. The group favours properties in prime locations that offer convenient public transit but ones with accessible pricing. Ekkamai, Huai Khwang, and Phaya Thai – most of these are situated in Bangkok’s middle area, are areas currently garnering the most attention from this group of buyers.

Anukul Ratpitaksanti, managing director, Plus Property Company Limited, the full-service professional property and facility management agency, disclosed findings that members of the new generation aged between 21 and 30 years – and young, working-age individuals between 31 and 40 years old together constitute the primary group of buyers who choose to purchase condominium rooms for residency. The 31-40 years old group generates the brunt of purchases, contributing 41 per cent of total purchases. The 21-30 years old group generates 13 per cent of total purchase but the expansion of this particular group has been remarkable – 25 per cent growth of the average number of buyers over the five years period during 2013 and 2017; this expansion also has a tendency to continue. Members of this group are classified as millennials (born during 1980 and 2000) who were raised amidst technological advances. They live dynamically and choose the types of residence that offer convenience in commuting and are situated on prime locations. They also favour a room size that matches their need; a room that is easy to maintain but also provides well-utilised space. Furthermore, these buyers favor property projects by major developers who have high credibility.

Millennials favour a room size no larger than 30 square meters, and favor a price range of Bt130,000 and Bt300,000 per square meter. Generally, they give greater importance to projects that emphasize utility of the common area and optimisation of available space in a unit. They heed the concept of sharing economy and the utilisation of space shared by residents of multiple buildings. And they pay attention to a common area that answers to many facets of life, such as the co-working space or co-kitchen rooms found at some projects.

10 lucky winners to fly free to Japan

NokScoot is pleased to welcome ten lucky travellers to explore Japan’s most iconic destinations as part of its highly successful “Best Job in Thailand” campaign.

Over 200 applicants applied, with the 10 lucky winners and their guests awarded the chance to fly to Tokyo on NokScoot. They also receive complementary accommodation provided by Expedia plus an additional Bt15,000 pocket money to spend out on the town, compliments of NokScoot.

“We have been very successful with our social media campaign. It reaffirms our belief that most Thais enjoy travelling to Japan. Contestants who are passionate about travelling put their courage and passion on display when introducing themselves in unique, quirky, and fun-filled videos. This captured their personalities and wanderlust spirit,” said Buhdy Bok, head of commercial at NokScoot.

“This exclusive collaboration between Expedia and NokScoot allows the 10 lucky travelers to shop, discover, explore, and eat while sharing their Tokyo experiences and its chic, urban lifestyle with their friends, family and followers,” Buhdy added.

NokScoot operates daily flights on the Don Muang to Narita route using Boeing 777-200 wide-bodied twin-aisle jets. Configured with a total of 415 seats, the 777 offers 24 Business Class seats and 391 Economy seats. Passengers can customise their travel experience to suit personal preferences, such as a selection from variety of meals, preferred seats and additional baggage allowance as they wish.

50 JOIN AIRNOVATION SUMMER ACADEMY IN UK

Some 50 top students from 20 countries, representing 24 Airbus partner universities, will join the second Airbus Airnovation Summer Academy this month at the United Kingdom’s Cranfield University. The Academy brings together students from multidisciplinary backgrounds for an intense one-week programme based on the principles and methods of a business accelerator.

Kamolthita Ruengthong, from Thailand who is currently pursuing an MSc at the University of Manchester was selected to participate in this Airnovation Summer Academy. She received her bacholor’s degree from Chulalongkorn University.

Just as Airbus forms diverse, multidisciplinary teams to innovate and create value for customers and society overall, the Academy will see diverse student teams develop business proposals with speed and agility. This year their ideas will be a response to the 2018 challenge to produce game-changing concepts linked to the global need for food and water security, which features highly in a recent survey ranking millennials’ concerns. By addressing challenges of global impact, the Academy offers to future aerospace professionals the opportunity to learn how to keep aerospace relevant to society, transforming and reinventing the industry.

The chain has set a plan for the expansion of Waldorf Astoria in the other parts of Southeast Asia market, including in Maldives and Indonesia.

Set to be one of the region’s most anticipated hotel openings this year, the grand debut will introduce the brand’s iconic experience to discerning travellers in the vibrant Thai capital. In tribute to the owners of the property, Magnolia Finest Corporation Limited, the building has been designed to give the effect of springing from the ground like a Magnolia flower. Towering above the city, the dazzling sculptural appearance of the property cuts a dramatic profile in the skyline of Bangkok, in the heart of the bustling Ratchaprasong intersection.

The hotel will boast 171 luxuriously appointed and spacious guest rooms and suites, which reflect the artistry and craftsmanship of award-winning designer Andre Fu and his design studio AFSO.

With a global portfolio of 30 hotels and resorts, Waldorf Astoria is known for creating a unique sense of place with a relentless commitment to personal service and culinary expertise in landmark locations around the world. Waldorf Astoria consistently offers a strong sense of arrival and impressive public spaces worthy of hosting history. Numerous historical figures – from Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra, to world leaders – have been associated with the brand.

Daniel Welk, vice president, operations, luxury and lifestyle, Asia Pacific, Hilton, said that one of the key reasons behind this decision is the very optimistic outlook of the inbound tourism sector in Bangkok. In fact, just last year, it was named the most popular city for international tourists, according to the 2017 Global Destination Cities Index, ahead even of cities like London, Paris, Dubai, New York and Singapore. Additionally, this growth doesn’t look set to slow down any time soon – total international arrivals are expected to hit a high of 38.93 million in 2018, constituting a 9.2 per cent increase year-on-year.

“At the same time, we’re also seeing steady growth in the luxury travel segment in Thailand. As expenditure per tourist continues to increase, one of the key trends that has emerged is the movement towards the higher-end market, among both Chinese and European tourists. Additionally, as Bangkok is home to some of the world’s finest in cuisine and design, we simply could not think of a better place to launch our first Waldorf Astoria in Southeast Asia,” he said, adding that of course, the choice of location within Bangkok was also critical – located in the heart of Ratchaprasong intersection in bustling downtown Bangkok, mere steps from the very convenient Bangkok elevated Train System (BTS), Waldorf Astoria Bangkok is within minutes walking distance to renowned shopping precincts and tourist attractions, making it the perfect base for moving around Bangkok.

“In Thailand, we currently operate eight properties across our entire brand portfolio. This includes five Hilton Hotels & Resorts, two Conrad Hotels & Resorts, and one DoubleTree by Hilton. At the moment, we also have four hotels in the pipeline – an upcoming Hilton Hotel & Resort, another Double Tree by Hilton, our first Hilton Garden Inn, and of course, the Waldorf Astoria Bangkok,” said Welk.

“From Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills to Waldorf Astoria Chengdu, our global portfolio of nearly 35 iconic properties all create a unique sense of place with a relentless commitment to personal service and culinary expertise in landmark locations around the world. Hence, the Waldorf Astoria brand appeals to luxury travelers who are after unparalleled experiences, inspiring and personalized stays, and timely but timeless environments that allow guests to make the most of their time. Occupancy-wise, we are already seeing significant interest in terms of bookings, well ahead of the official opening in the third quarter of this year. Additionally, as Bangkok’s inbound tourism continues to flourish, and the luxury travel market grows from strength to strength, we expect to see this enthusiastic response extend beyond the short term,” he said.

Welk said that Waldorf Astoria Bangkok marks the brand’s first foray into South East Asia. At the moment, Hilton has four additional Waldorf Astoria hotels in the pipeline or at various stages of development in other parts of South East Asia. This includes the Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi, scheduled to open in Q1 2019, as well as three others in Indonesia – Waldorf Astoria Bali, Waldorf Astoria Jakarta, both of which launch in 2020, and Waldorf Astoria Bali Ubud, launching in 2021.