However, some details in the contract still have to be finalised, which is why the signing has been postponed.

“The merger will certainly be signed in the next day or two and there is a high possibility that it will be carried out on Thursday,” the source said. “A press conference for the media is expected, where all details will be announced for analysts on the same day.”

He said the next step would include informing the employees of both companies about the merger.

For the merger, TMB was responsible of sourcing Bt130 billion to buy out its previous owners, Thanachart Capital PCL (TCAP) and Scotia Bank.

“After receiving the money, of which Bt80 billion is for shares, TCAP will spend Bt25 billion to purchase shares in its subsidiaries and other companies that Thanachart Bank has invested in,” the source said.

TCAP will also spend Bt45 billion to purchase TMB’s shares, meaning it will have Bt10 billion left from the transaction.

After the merger, the new bank will be called “TMB-Thanachart Bank”, and the shareholding structure will be changed.

The ING Group will be the largest shareholder with 21 per cent, followed by TCAP with 20 per cent, the Finance Ministry with 18 per cent and Scotia Bank with 5 per cent. The remaining 36 per cent will go to individual shareholders.

No layoffs are expected, though top management positions from the CEO will undergo changes, the source said.

“Positions will be adjusted to suit the business situation and those who do want to stay can seek early retirement, which the bank will be ready to cover according to the labour law,” he said.

The proposed investment follows the Bt800 million that the company spent last year to develop a convention and exhibition centre, the company’s chief executive officer Thanakorn Weerachatyanukul said on Wednesday.

“Our hotel will have only 80 rooms and they will be priced from around Bt2,000 to Bt5,000 per night with a focus on foreign and domestic tourists who visit the province,” he said in an interview with The Nation.

He said that both the hotel and the convention and exhibition centre form part its plans arising from the development of the UD Town Shopping Plaza in Udon Thani 10 years ago. The convention and exhibition centre had its soft opening on May and the official opening on Wednesday.

The development focus for the rest of this year is now on the hotel and it is expected to be completed in 2020.

“Together, the convention and exhibition centre and the hotel will generate income to the group and help it achieve a Bt300 million take in 2021,” he said.

“Since the soft launch of the exhibition centre in May, we hosted 50 events until the end of July, and a further 50 events are planned for the rest of this year. These events will generate income of up to Bt40 million this year, with expectations for Bt100 million in 2020.”

The convention and exhibition centre, known as Montatip Hall, is an attempt to introduce a new central business district (CBD) in the city and serve as a MICE destination in the upper part of Thailand’s northeastern region. Covering 25,000 square metres, the venue has a range of facilities, with both indoor and outdoor parking for more than 1,000 cars.

Featuring five major halls, the convention and exhibition centre will continue to be busy, with THAI FIGHT Kamchanod taking place on August 24 as its first official event, followed by the GMS Fabric Expo 2019 in October.

Thanakorn said that when the hotel is completed in 2020, the company believes that its total revenue will reach Bt300 million, with half each coming from its retail business UD Town and the new businesses in the form of the exhibition centre and the hotel.

Up to 70 per cent of the visitors to UD Town are from Udon Thani, with visitors making up the rest, including those from Laos and other foreigners.

On week days, UD Town average 12,000 visitors a day, and more than 15,000 per day on weekends. During events such as the Songkran festival or New Year celebrations, the numbers top 50,000 a day.

The average spending of customers at the shopping plaza is Bt800 per time.

“Udon Thani continues to be the central business district for the northeastern region of Thailand and offers good potential for the expansion of our business,” he said.

“The traditional process of cross-border trade often faces delays due to the checking of documents and verification systems that are still reliant on paperwork,” Thakorn Piyapan, head of Krungsri Consumer Group and the Digital Banking and Innovation Division, said.

With the new blockchain solution, cross-border trade can become more efficient as the process will be significantly shortened, he added.

He stated that currently we are in the central bank’s sandbox and have successfully deployed a blockchain transaction between IRPC and their partner in Laos. Krungsri, in cooperation with Mitsubishi Corporation, has been able to complete a blockchain transaction with Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore.

Thakorn said each transaction tested was worth more than Bt1 million. He said that with this blockchain transaction process, the bank should exit the Bank of Thailand’s sandbox and be ready for cross-border transactions by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, Standard Chartered Bank (Thailand) announced on Wednesday that it has successfully executed a pilot transaction for PTT Group, PTT International Trading and IRPC.

This marks the first cross-border letter of credit (LC) issued over the Voltron blockchain platform in the oil industry.

Voltron is a blockchain-based open-industry platform created to exchange, digitise and approve the LC forms. The LC is a form of short-term finance document that is traditionally paper-intensive and requires up to five days for the delivery of these documents.

With the new blockchain transaction, Standard Chartered was able to digitise and simplify the end-to-end exchange of the LC form between all parties in the transaction on the Voltron platform.

This resulted in a significant reduction of processing time from five days to less than 12 hours, in addition to achieving greater transparency and cost efficiencies across the supply chain, according to Plakorn Wanglee, president and CEO of Standard Chartered Bank (Thailand).

“We want to satisfy society and the people, because our ultimate goal is to serve our customers. Who are our customers? 6.5 billion people, and possibly more in the future owing to more IoT connections. IoT will be even more powerful than 5G. Therefore, we are committed to creating value for customers and ensuring we satisfy people’s needs,” Ren said.

He said the Huawei Ocean Connect IoT platform and cloud system serves all Internet of Things application development needs for Thailand’s use cases.

Some applications have been deployed in Thailand over the Huawei Ocean Connect IoT platform and cloud system after mobile operators launched NB-IoT networks nationwide.

He said IoT is driving the five new S-Curve industries: digital economy, robotics and automation, aviation and logistics, biofuels and biochemical and medical hub. These are intended to be the new industrial base for economic development.

“The increasing demand for IoT technologies in all types of industries, the rapid infrastructure development to carry off the digital economy transformation, and the opportunity of know-how along with the contribution from the government have taken Thailand forward in the area of IoT,” Ren said.

He said that robotics used in factory automation have also been increasing as a result of the advancement in hardware technology and the IoT inroads. By integrating Big Data and analytics in factory automation, intelligent sensors and actuators from IoT devices can communicate using IP to improve performance and efficiency.

There are new opportunities to integrate IoT in hospitals and healthcare and the market has seen strong demand for developing new technologies.

Telemedicine monitoring mainly uses technologies related to the IoT technology to build a patient-centric, remote consultation, and continuous monitoring service system focused on helping critically ill patients. The smart wheelchair technology can comfortably deliver a user to a destination. GPS positioning applications for patients with heart disease are another simple IoT application.

To drive Thailand’s IoT ecosystem and development, the firm provides a Huawei Ocean Connect IoT platform based on Huawei Public Cloud to help SI partners to bring IoT developments to the market faster.

The local SI partners would get comprehensive support for technical training, devices partnership matching, and mobile operators’ integration.

The Huawei Ocean Connect IoT platform can further support SI partners, startups, and developers of applications for whole marketplaces such as logistics, manufacturing, energy, hospitals and healthcare, business enterprises, schools and cities.

To promote IoT in Thailand, the IoT Alliance partners with local and global players to help local organisations, government, industry and global IoT device vendors contribute to the country’s  IoT development while supporting the Thailand 4.0 policy.

Under the CORE PLUS+ plan, ABOs can gain success more quickly, over and above their core income plan. The new programme will work in conjunction with new investments and is expected to drive Amway Thailand’s sales to Bt30 million by 2025.

“For 60 years, Amway has brought opportunities to and supported the success of people across the world through an exemplary business model that is realistic, contemporary and proven for fair compensation and possibility to be a stable source of income, which has resulted in Amway being consistently ranked as the world’s top direct-selling company. Amway has also adapted to the rapidly changing global marketplace to ensure that it is always up-to-date, competitive and equipped with the ability to meet the lifestyle needs of people who prefer entrepreneurship that offers true income-generation potential and quick, long-term success,” said Kittawat Ritteerawee, managing director of Amway (Thailand) Limited.

“Amway is making the biggest-ever investment in its history this year by launching CORE PLUS+ incentives programme, which will introduce a newly-restructured performance bonus plan across all levels of ABOs. It comes with three highlights:

“1) Easy Start – making it easier and faster for new ABOs to establish themselves in Amway Business;

“2) Extra Earn – enabling ABOs to make more bonus and progress to higher levels in shorter times; and

“3) Sustainable Growth – allowing ABO Leaders to enjoy a consistent source of income, lasting business and sustainable success.

“The launch will be supported by business knowledge and skills development programmes as well as year-round marketing campaigns. Thailand will be among the first markets to implement Amway CORE PLUS+ on September 1,” Kittawat revealed.

“Other than working to drive future growth in an increasingly digitised marketplace, Amway has invested in multiple digital platforms to bring new, enriched experiences to ABOs and their customers,” he added. “With our full-fledged e-commerce capabilities and new enterprise digital platforms, ABOs can manage their businesses more easily and take advantage of social selling by connecting products to provide seamless, personalized digital experiences to their customers.

“This investment will help Amway keep its place as a leader in a digitally disrupted world thanks to Amway’s nature as a high-tech, high-touch business. By combining cutting-edge digital tools with professional ABOs, Amway will be able to deliver the most well-rounded product and service offerings. As for Amway Thailand, we are confident the company will achieve a new breakthrough with sales reaching Bt30 billion by 2025.”

This strategic partnership also marks the first collaboration between Vietjet and Grab, which operates a super-app, with the aim of offering the Vietnamese market quality services.

Vietjet and Grab says they will leverage on technological advantages to develop low-cost solutions for road and air mobility. The two parties will focus on research and development into a digital platform integration between the two companies to increase convenience for consumers for the Southeast Asian markets.

With technological solutions of Swift247, Grab and Vietjet will be able to connect air flights with road transportation in express delivery services. In the first phase, Swift247 customers will be able to deliver their goods via GrabExpress delivery services on Grab platform and Vietjet aircraft within five  hours between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Customers can track the delivery process on the website and Swift247 application. In the future, the parties will integrate Swift247 services into the Grab open platform.

Vietjet president and CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao said: “We are witnessing a partnership between an airline with the largest number of domestic passengers in Vietnam with an e-hailing app with the most extensive driver partner fleets in Southeast Asia and a next generation startup. Vietjet believes that this partnership will bring in new changes in local delivery market, and create unique experience to consumers, and able to meet increasing demand for good delivery services. This is also a new step on the path to becoming a Consumer Airline, providing all kinds of services that consumers of Vietjet need.”

Tommy Nguyen, a representative of Swift247, said: “As a startup, we are happy to cooperate with the two big names in the field of transport connection and aviation like Grab and Vietjet. With Vietjet’s wide range of airline routes to domestic and international destinations and Grab’s unicorn position and extensive driver partners and users base, customers will be able to experience a convenient and reliable delivery service, supported by technology”.

Jerry Lim, country head of Grab Vietnam, said:  “Grab has been serving everyday needs of one fourth of Vietnam’s population, with the ecosystem of a super app providing a wide range of everyday services.

“This shows that Grab has become a strong and go-to partner of leading conglomerates and enterprises of Vietnam, and the trust of local partners on Grab’s leading position. We believe the strategic partnership with Vietjet and Swift247 is the first step for Grab to thrive for deeper cooperation with Sovico Holdings, one of the leading conglomerates of Vietnam, to bring more value added services to people across the country. Especially, the strategic partnership with Swift247 and Vietjet proves our strong commitment in investing more toward the digitalization of transport infrastructure, helping local enterprises to expand regionally and developing home-grown startups.”

The partnership further expands current GrabExpress’ services

With more than 400 daily flights and 129 routes covering local and international destinations including Vietnamese landscapes, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea, Vietjet provides domestic and international cargo services. Partnering with Grab and Swift247 helps to bring more choices to Vietjet’s customers, the partners said.

The service was recently expanded to cover Japan, a popular destination with Thai and Singaporean tourists, and supports AIS customers who are using Rabbit LINE Pay via the AIS Global Pay app and Singaporean customers using the Singtel Dash electronic wallet. Both are now able to pay via QR Code with VIA symbol in the currency of their own country without fees, doing away with the need to carry cash while travelling. The pilot service is now available at Haneda Airport and Narita Airport and AIS is working together with NETSTARS, a Merchant Acquirer partner from Japan to prepare payment points at popular tourist and shopping destinations in Japan. AIS and SingTel are also preparing to expand the AIS Global Pay service to other countries popular with Thais.

The company has also partnered with Kasikorn Bank and Siam Commercial Bank to allow customers to connect with both banks for payment of goods and services via the AIS Global Pay app.

Customers who use the AIS Global Pay app for the first payment receive cash back up to Bt100, limited to up to 1,000 privileges per month, from today until October 31.

The company said the revenue jump reflected the company’s strong potential to distribute power and utilities, including to independent power producers (IPP), small power producers (SPP) and very small power producers (VSPP).

GPSC will continue to focus on customers’ power security with a plan to increase capital in order to strengthen its financial status to keep investing in new technology and innovation to align with changing power demand amid the rise of renewable power in Thailand.

Chawalit Tippawanich, president and chief executive officer of GPSC, the power flagship of PTT Group, said the company said in the second quarter the company’s adjusted net income was  Bt1.44 billion, arising from the  assessment of the fair value of net assets and allocation of business acquisition costs of Bt1,441 million, up Bt499 million.

“The company is also able to produce increasing power and steam for customers in industrial sector, reflecting strong efficiency and expertise in securing power supply professionally,” said Chawalit.

For the first six months of 2019, GPSC’s total revenue was Bt29,057 million, rising Bt16,728 million. That marked a  136 per cent rise from the same period of last year due to increased revenue from the acquisition of Glow, as the  acquisition was completed on March. This will lend support to GPSC for a continued rise in contributions from the power and utility plants of GPSC and Glow.

From this year, there are four power and steam projects that are due to start commercial operation (COD, mainly in  2019-2020. There are: the 65 MW Nam Lik 1 Power Company Limited (NL1PC) project  in Laos, in which GPSC holds a 40 per cent stakes, and has started COD since July 1, 2019; the  1,285 MW Xayaburi Power Company Limited (XPCL) in Laos, in which GPSC holds a 25 per cent  stakes and is due to start COD in the fourth quarter of 2019;  the  Central Utility Plant 4 (CUP 4) in Rayong province with 45 MW of power and 70 tonnes  per hour of steam, which is due to start COD in the third quarter of /2019; and  the expansion of the Nava Nakorn Elecricity Generating Company Limited (NNEG), which is due to have an additional 60 MW of power and 10 tonnes  per hour of steam, in which GPSC holds a 30 per cent stake and is due to start COD in 2020.

Lih Ren How, chief marketing officer, said: “DTAC will not stop developing and creating services that meet customers’ needs by conducting in-depth studies of their problems and demands.”

He outlined the three key points the campaign is based on:

1.    Knowing real customer needs

DTAC’s study on prepaid customers’ complaints and behaviour revealed two major trends:

* Prepaid customers usually terminate service three to six months after activating their SIM, believing that they will gain more benefits by registering a new SIM, such as cheaper calls and data charges as well as other premiums in the first few months of activation.

* Prepaid customers feel that even though they have been with an operator for many years, they rarely receive privileges or benefits. In the case of DTAC, though they receive free calls on their birthday and other “Jaidee” services, especially the “Jaidee Emergency Refill”, which is not offered by other operators, they want to enjoy privileges every day, not just when they top-up.

2. Providing a digital experience to prepaid customers

Currently, some 440,000 of DTAC’s 14.3 million prepaid subscribers use the DTAC application as it is more convenient and offers services and rewards. DTAC’s goal is to boost the number of pre-paid customers using the application to one million within six months.

3. Delivering value to customers

The “Jaidee Jaek Suk” campaign will deliver incremental value to customers the longer and more often they interact with DTAC. There are sweepstakes and reward activities that can be accessed via the DTAC app.

Lih Ren added that prepaid customers can use their accumulated usage balance to exchange for privileges via the DTAC app. The longer customers stay with DTAC, the more propellers they get, he said.

* For every Bt50 spent, customers who have been using DTAC for more than three years, will receive double the propellers. Prizes can be redeemed on a daily basis and big prizes will be drawn twice a week without a refill or usage required on the day.

* The campaign is also addressing the problem of customers running out of credit by allowing them to redeem their collected propellers for free calls or free data.

* Customers also receive extra propellers on their birthday or other special occasions, as well as for logging into the DTAC app for at least five consecutive days.

* To be eligible, customers just have to download the DTAC app and hold an active DTAC account. Big prizes worth over Bt20 million will be drawn every two weeks for six months.

Total income rose 9 per cent to a new high of S$4.99 billion, lifted by strong loan growth and higher trading and investment income. Return on equity rose to 12 per cent, up 0.4 per cent from a year ago.

Net earnings for the second quarter of 2019 rose to S$1.17 billion, which was 11 per cent and 8 per cent higher than the first quarter of 2019 and the second quarter of 2018, respectively. The record second-quarter earnings were driven by improvement in both interest and non-interest income.

The group’s funding position and capital base stayed strong. The loan-to-deposit ratio was stable at 88.5 per cent as at 30 June 2019. Gross loans and deposits grew 9 per cent and 6 per cent year on year to S$273 billion and S$305 billion respectively. The group’s common equity tier 1 capital adequacy ratio (CAR) remained robust at 13.9 per cent.

On the back of the strong earnings performance, the board declared an interim dividend of 55 Singapore cents per ordinary share. This reflects UOB’s commitment to reward shareholders while retaining adequate resources for capital and growth needs.