Its new Data Centre and Smart Solutions business units will serve as additional growth engines and its new joint venture with co-working space provider JustCo will “add an exciting business paradigm”, TICON chairman Panote Sirivadhanabhakdi said this week.

JustCo’s most recent activity includes a joint investment of US$177 million with Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC and multinational property company Frasers Property Ltd.

“Traditional business models are being disrupted worldwide by emerging technologies that change the way people behave, work and operate,” Panote said.

“In Thailand, the government has been promoting the Industry 4.0 model and encouraging leading companies and organisations to embrace technologies for business development.

“This exclusive partnership with JustCo represents a unique opportunity for TICON to enhance its business platform through technology-enabled services. With TICON’s deep market knowledge and extensive business network, we are confident that this joint venture will be able to reap shared synergies and help accelerate JustCo’s presence and network expansion in Thailand.”

TICON president Sopon Racharaksa said the company’s new vision was to be “the leading provider of smart industrial platform”.

“We will focus on integrating cutting-edge technologies across our three business groups – Industrial Property, Data Centre and the newly added Smart Solutions. This will be supported by our plan to form strategic partnerships with leading companies who have strong expertise in their fields to create new business synergies and greater strengths.”

Industrial Property involved business automation, new technologies and ICT for new S-curve industries under the Industrial 4.0 business model. The new technologies will add value to products and services supporting the development of smart logistics facilities and smart factories, under sustainability and green initiatives.

After announcing the data centre business partnership with STT GDC, a fast-growing data centre provider headquartered in Singapore, the joint-venture is now leveraging the core competencies and expertise of both partners to develop the first large-scale data centre facility strategically located in the heart of Bangkok.

The state-of-the-art Data Centre will be designed with the highest industry standards in mind and will ensure that the facility’s design meet the most stringent requirement of large corporates, both Thai and international.

Smart Solutions reflects the new partnership with JustCo, whose expertise in data analytics, workspace technology and community management will complement TICON’s aim to provide more integrated solutions to customers.

TICON is also exploring other opportunities for its Smart Solutions business. It owns 51 per cent of the joint venture with JustCo.

“Thailand is a key market in Southeast Asia and one of the region’s major business hubs, which makes it an attractive investment destination,” said JustCo founder and CEO Kong Wan Sing.

“With Frasers Property Ltd as TICON’s major shareholder, our common affiliation and exclusive partnership with TICON will provide JustCo access to one of the strongest business networks in the property development industry that has exceptional insights on the Thailand market.”

TICON’s presence in strategic locations that will also be favourable to JustCo’s operation, he said.

Combined with JustCo’s expertise in data analytics, workspace technology and community management, the synergy of this partnership will provide new business engines and a strong growth path to both partners.

Following the successful opening of JustCo’s first centre in Bangkok at AIA Sathorn Tower in May, its second centre at Capital Tower, All Seasons Place, is opening this month.

“We have strategically located our centres in the Central Business District, both within walking distance of BTS stations,” Panote said. “We are confident of creating a powerful ecosystem where businesses of all sizes can harness and benefit the network effect at JustCo.”

SCB executive vice president Chanpen Vitchichunthakhron and Zen Corp chief commercial officer Thunyachate Ekvetchavit announced the plan on Thursday.

SCB is ready to finance entrepreneurs keen on investing in becoming franchisees or expanding or renovating branches, with a maximum credit-line limit of 100 per cent loan-to-value.

The financing will be available at the Thailand Franchise and Business Opportunities event taking place at the Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre (Bitec) in Bang Na from July 12-15.

Interested entrepreneurs can also learn more from SCB Business Centres, located at Siam Square, Central World, Central Festival East Ville, Sampeng Market and Nong Mon in Chon Buri.

Up for grabs are cash prizes totalling Bt200,000 and certificates.

Entries can be submitted from July 16-August 31. The winners will be announced on September 19 at ThaiNamthip.co.th.

Among the judges are Ajarn Pitak Piyapong, a veteran advertiser turned independent artist, Jay Spencer, a creative-space developer and brand consultant, and OH Futon, an artist with a portfolio of product design for several global brands.

“As ThaiNamthip enters its auspicious 60th year, we would like to explore the potential and creative capability of young designers in Thailand as a means to give back to our valued consumers, especially the young generation who have been a major force in driving ThaiNamthip’s success,” chairman Pornwut Sarasin said.

“Since we are a Thai company growing in tandem with Thai society, we are inviting local youths to design ThaiNamthip’s 60th-anniversary logo.”

The logo should project modernity and beauty, channelling ThaiNamthip’s unique identity to portray its solid foundation and progress. The entries must also reflect the company’s vision as a leader in Thailand’s beverage industry.

The first-prize winner will receive Bt100,000, the runner-up Bt50,000 and there will be five consolation prizes of Bt10,000 each.

The winning entry will be used in the design of ThaiNamthip’s corporate logo throughout 2019.

Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said on Wednesday that the plan would be forwarded for the National Economic and Social Development Board’s consideration in August and to the Cabinet in September.

Piya Yodmani, CEO of Nok Air, said the campaign marks important cooperation between the two airlines in the THAI Group, offering passengers the chance to earn not only Nok Points, but also miles from Royal Orchid Plus.

Under this new offering, for Nok MAX, passengers will earn 250 miles per person to their Royal Orchid Plus accounts and passengers with Nok X-tra will earn 150 miles per person.

These miles can be exchanged for many rewards from Royal Orchid Plus of Thai Airways. The members of both Nok Fan Club and Royal Orchid Plus will get the miles within 14 days of their journey, it said.

SCB EIC and MHRI said they would boost their relationship and research development opportunities.

This resulted in a memorandum of understanding to expand cooperation on economic and business research between Thailand and Japan, to be published in international journals.

Wang Feng, chairman and CEO of Shandong Linglong Tire Co Ltd, a leading Chinese tyre manufacturer, recently signed a financial facility agreement worth US$285 million (Bt9.38 billion), which will be used by LLIT (Thailand) Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Shandong Linglong Tire Co, for the construction of a plant in Thailand.

Tyres produced by LLIT (Thailand) will be sold in Thailand and exported globally, Feng said.

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.