It also plans to upgrade its representative offices to branches once they are mature enough to provide full banking service. This upgrade plan depends on the regulations of each country.

Nyo Myint said the rep office in Thailand was keen to build relationships with Thai banks.

KBZ received a licence from the Bank of Thailand this year to open the office.

It is the completion of KBZ Bank’s first step towards its goal of becoming Myanmar’s foremost commercial presence in the Southeast Asian region and beyond.

“We intend to start offering financial and advisory services as soon as possible to Myanmar individuals and businesses in Thailand and, naturally, Thai businesses interested in entering Myanmar,” said Than Cho, senior managing director of KBZ Bank.

“We hope they take advantage of our extensive knowledge of Myanmar’s financial markets and join the growing bilateral trade between our two countries.”

He believes that the new office in Thailand could play a key role in helping Myanmar support the entire Asean business community.

When Thai Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan met Myanmar President Htin Kyaw in Nay Pyi Taw last month, it was announced that the two countries intended to double their trade to US$20 billion (Bt700 billion) next year.

Through its representative office, KBZ Bank will help reach that target, Than Cho said.

“The long-standing relationship between the two countries offers ample opportunities to collaborate across various sectors in the region.

“We have long been a leading financial institution in Myanmar, and are prepared to represent the country alongside our international industry peers,” he said.

KBZ Bank is able to explore opportunities to build relations with, and eventually cater to, the large population of Myanmar nationals in the Kingdom – estimated to be about 3 million people – when they return to their home country.

To launch the office, KBZ Bank had to undergo stringent due diligence and demonstrate significant transparency as part of the licence application.

This included an appraisal of the bank’s position in the market, background information on its shareholders, the awards the bank has received and its accounts and investments to ensure its operations adhered to the guidelines set by the Bank of Thailand.

KBZ Group says it has a proven track record of operating with industry best practices, as evidenced in 2014 when the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business recognised the KBZ Group of Companies as the most transparent organisation in Myanmar.

The remainder will be used for debt repayment.

Emerging as a solar-power unit of Bangchak Petroleum in 2011, BCPG was spun off and incorporated in July last year with an initial 38MW under operation.

The company has taken over the solar-power business and assets of its parent, while developing further by purchasing solar business in Japan.

Currently, BCPG operates renewable-power business with a contracted capacity of 418MW in total, Bundit said, adding that about 194MW is the aggregate contracted capacity of solar power in Japan, and 130MW in Thailand.

Of the 194MW capacity in Japan, about 20MW has commenced commercial operation, while about 118MW of the 130MW capacity in the Kingdom – at eight locations in five provinces – is also being operated commercially.

Another 12MW comprises Thai projects in the development phase for solar cooperatives, he explained.

“Our vision is to become a pure power player over the next three to five years … We aim to be a developer of renewable-power business,” the company’s president said.

BCPG’s vision is to become an international producer and supplier of renewable power by partnering with local and international firms, he added.

He said the solar power business in Japan was “interesting”, as it gave a rate of return on investment, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) coming in at about Bt8 million to Bt10 million per megawatt.

Meanwhile, the company’s solar-power plants’ EBITDA in Thailand is Bt15 million to Bt16 million per megawatt, as a result of its projects being the first to be awarded the highest adder tariff of Bt8 per unit.

Varah Sucharitakul, executive director of Finansa Securities – BCPG’s financial adviser and co-lead underwriter for its IPO – said BCPG would offer 590 million IPO shares, or up to 30 per cent of its paid-up capital.

Up 68.85 million, or 11.69 per cent, of the IPO shares will be offered to BCPG’s existing shareholders as a pre-emptive right, and the remainder to the public.

“Those who own BCP [Bangchak Petroleum] shares before August 16 will have the pre-emptive right to subscribe to BCPG IPO shares,” he said.

Varah said that after the fund-raising, BCPG would have room for debt-gearing as large as Bt50 billion-Bt60 billion.

Among these offerings, Ecovacs Robotics’ Deebot floor-cleaning robot features self-emptying rubbish bins, mopping systems and the company’s Smart Move technology.

Meanwhile, the company’s Winbot, an award-winning window-cleaning robot, is equipped with patented Smart Drive technology, advanced cleaning systems and safety mechanisms.

“In Southeast Asia, Thailand for instance is an advanced market, besides Singapore. Thailand is one of the biggest markets and most advanced countries in Asean, and has a strong case to be the centre of robotics technology in this region, with its great manpower and knowledge,” said David Qian, president of the international business unit of Ecovacs Robotics.

Thailand could become the top country providing all the business potential for leading robotics brands from around the world, he suggested.

“Thailand’s infrastructure is very strong, so it will not be so hard for the country to become the centre for upcoming businesses, including [those making] robotic cleaning systems, with the support from global companies such as Ecovacs.

“I believe Thailand is now ready for this. In terms of the government sector, its Industry Ministry visited Ecovacs in April, and this shows that the government is ready to support us in the future,” Qian said.

Robotics technology in this field is now more mature, and will be among the top three most popular industries in the not-too-distant future, he added.

“We at Ecovacs have combined robotics technology with a mobile-phone application and our vacuum-cleaner products. This will make it much easier to operate the cleaners, while they can be controlled not only from home, but also from anywhere around the world,” the president said.

Nattapon Pattamapong, managing director of Mentagram, said Ecovacs Robotics’ household robotics products provided home-cleaning solutions that suited the lifestyle of Thai consumers living either in a house or a condominium.

“Our target customers are the new generation with an urban lifestyle, modern housewives and general consumers, respectively,” he said.

“In addition to robotic home cleaners, the company plans to launch other products into the Thai market, including an automatic home-controlling system. We can safely say that in the next five years, robotics could account for between 60 and 70 per cent of household work when it comes to cleaning the home,” Nattapon added.

Global Capital Markets Group was set up as a new business division by Vorapak Tanyawong, who will step down as KTB president on November 8, to expand its non-interest income and increase its market share of private clients.

Somchai, who is also chairman of KTB’s board of directors, said that although only one candidate applied for the position, the nomination and remuneration committee is going ahead with the selection process.

Even though only one candidate has come forward, the selection process is proceeding because if the applicant is deemed unsuitable, we will have to continue the search, he said. A KTB executive, who declined to be named, said that even though Payong is 47 years old, he has made great efforts to make |KTB’s Global Capital Markets Group known to major corporations.

“Vorapak is KTB president at 48, so age is not important and even though Payong’s experience is mainly in capital markets, the bank’s management has expertise in many sectors so we have |executives who are able to help support top management,” he said.

“Our digital banking will be developed on cloud computing. Our back office has been revamped for the upcoming digital banking,” she said.

Tisco’s mobile banking will be launched early next year, with the bank then gradually developing additional features as its mobile banking will eventually be a channel for lending applications, apart from servicing transactional banking, she explained.

She added that the bank hoped that digital banking would help lower its operating expenses in the long run, and that mobile banking would enable it to expand the customer base to mass-market clients.

For Tisco’s deposit and investment products, middle-to-upper-market customers form its key client base, while its retail lending customers are in the auto-loan segment.

Tisco, which is the third-largest auto lender in the banking industry with a portfolio of Bt180 billion, expects its outstanding auto loans to show flat growth next year, after a further fall this year due to repaid loans remaining higher than new lending, the group chief said.

The level of new auto loans will return to normal in 2017 and 2018 after buyers under the previous elected government’s first-car tax-break scheme begin to trade their vehicles in after owning them for five years, she added.

That programme was launched in 2012. Meanwhile, Tisco has embraced fee income from selling insurance and mutual funds to sustain profitability, while its fee income from investment banking this year should outperform the market because Tisco Securities – the securities arm of Tisco Financial Group – has many initial-public-offering deals over the course of the year.

Tisco Asset Management, together with the Thaipat Institute, yester?day held an exclusive talk titled “Sustainable Investment: ESG Fund for Society”, in order to promote its ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) Fund widely among indi?vidual investors.

Theeranat Rujimethapas, managing director of Tisco Asset Management, said the company believed the return on investment in listed sustainable-business companies was no lower than for general listed companies.

Based on the total return of the Stock Exchange of Thailand over five years – from June 30, 2010, to July 10, 2015 – the return was 123 per cent, while the return on investment of com?panies in the “universe” of the ESG100 index was 160 per cent, he said. Stocks in the ESG100 were less volatile than the overall market, he added.

Tisco Asset Management has introduced the TISCO ESG Investment Fund for Society (TISESG-S) to indi?vidual Thai investors, with the fund set to invest in listed companies that are outstanding performers in the ESG100.