New frontier markets with high demand for goods and services are explored so that Thai entrepreneurs will have more alternatives in their trade and investment expansion, given the saturation and slow growth of the existing major markets like the U.S.A., the European Union (EU) and Japan. The Bank will serve as a market maker, assisting Thai operators pioneering new markets with creation of fresh demand, and offer both financial and non-financial services to open up trade and investment opportunities. In 2017, the Bank will open a representative office in Myanmar to stimulate demand for Thai products and services as well as to seek investment opportunities for Thai entrepreneurs in collaboration with Thai official agencies overseas and international organizations. The Bank will also cooperate with its alliances in conducting in-depth study and research on targeted new frontiers so that Thai exporters and investors will have in-depth information available to support their business decision making. In this regard, it will serve as a consultant and service provider for Thai entrepreneurs while coordinating with its alliances to help establish Thai businesses in those countries.

The widespread trend, both at home and abroad, of infrastructure development and upgrading projects, particularly those for economic development in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) and the economic corridors has resulted in demand for huge investment funds. However, despite interest from investors, several projects cannot be implemented due to restrictions facing the public and private sectors. Recognizing such drawback, the Bank is committed to filling such gaps by serving as a deal maker, exploring opportunities for and encouraging investments or provision of services overseas of Thai entrepreneurs. It will also act as a solution integrator, offering advice and services through expertise integration with its alliances in both the public and private sectors in support of the government’s roadmap to promote investments in neighboring countries and new frontier markets in order to boost demand for Thai goods and services and strengthen the economic linkage within the region and sub-regions. A prototype project is expected to be launched in 2017.

The new global economic paradigm has brought risks in various perspectives including trade and investment risks. Risk hedging tools are thus required to safeguard Thai entrepreneurs in business endeavors of today. EXIM Thailand has expanded its scope of export credit and investment insurance and reinsurance services by collaborating with international insurance agencies and alliances to penetrate overseas markets for its export credit and investment insurance services, which would build business operators’ confidence in their export and investment endeavors abroad and boost trade and investment value. This will be in line with Thailand’s business trends looking forward which are not limited merely to major markets but are open to broader ranging expansion to and networking with new frontier markets across the globe. The Bank has developed and planned to launch online export credit insurance service for small and medium enterprise (SME) exporters in 2017 to facilitate and quicken their access to services.

The advanced technology especially in telecommunication area coupled with financial technology (FinTech) has brought the world economy into the digital age as evident from a remarkable increase in online trading. EXIM Thailand is ready to improve its services to accommodate online financial transactions in response to business operation trends of Thai entrepreneurs through collaboration and participation in the e-trading ecosystem. Under the system, the Bank will provide knowledge support for entrepreneurs while developing connection of its credit and export credit insurance services with the e-trading platform, and thus support the government’s roadmap in economic restructuring toward digital economy. In 2017, such supports are aimed to pave way for entrepreneurs to trade on Alibaba.com according to the government policy. At present, the Bank is developing its credit and export credit insurance service platform to be connected with the e-trading system where entrepreneurs would be able to enjoy one-stop services accessing the Bank’s facilities in combination with those of Alibaba.com or other online commercial websites.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) remain a key foundation of Thai economy. Promotion and development of SMEs’ potential would help strengthen this foundation toward a sustainable growth. The Bank puts emphasis on offering both financial and non-financial services to New S-curve industries while further enhancing First S-curve industries’ potential through development of export knowledge base and data system to enhance export capabilities. Training courses have been arranged in collaboration with the Bank’s expert alliances to give knowledge to business operators with good potential. It has also provided credit and export credit insurance services as well as made joint investments both directly and indirectly to ensure that the entrepreneurs are strong enough to get started or expand their businesses, and to level up and sharpen Thai SMEs’ edges in international trade and investment arena. In 2017, the Bank will partner with its alliances to initiate an SMEs incubation program focusing on development of innovations and application of technologies to promote Thai export growth in line with the government policy.
This organization transformation is expected to boost the Bank’s capabilities as a government mechanism in driving Thai economy toward being a value-based economy under “Thailand 4.0” which is instrumental to the country rising out of the middle income trap. The Bank will remain committed and stand ready to support Thai entrepreneurs in exploring international trade and investment opportunities, particularly in new frontier markets, gearing up for a secured and sustainable economic growth. It has provided the indicators below to reflect its role as the government’s key economic driving mechanism:

During 2016-2020, the Bank has made major investments to upgrade its management process under the redefined role to promote trade and investment as well as online transactions with an aim to boost competitive advantage of Thai entrepreneurs. The Bank’s key investment projects within the total budget of 290.96 million baht have been implemented since 2016 and will continue into 2020. Details are as follows:

• Opening of representative office in target countries:The Bank aims to promote trade and investment in major markets in the CLMV, namely Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam, and the new frontiers by developing in-depth relations with agencies in these target countries and conducting integrated data collection and research in collaboration with local agencies. In 2016, the Bank worked out a plan to open representative offices in the CLMV, starting with Myanmar which has high investment potentials given its high GDP growth and continued growth prospects through the next five years. The Bank has also planned to open representative offices elsewhere in the CLMV in 2017.

• Development of data warehouse (DWH):The Bank places importance on the development of information technology in response to the rapidly changing competitive business environment as well as changes in the economic, financial and regulatory landscape. This also includes development of database system to support prompt and efficient strategic decision making of the management. Therefore, the Bank has developed its DWH since 2016 with the use of selected data models under a 3-phase plan covering 2017-2019. This will allow for efficient and timely data processing and boost the Bank’s competitiveness in the long run.

• Development of online export credit insurance system: The Bank has been developing the online channel to expand its export credit insurance service to SMEs so that they can buy insurance facility online. This will facilitate the procedure for and reach out to customers who cannot access the Bank branches. The work system and process in relation to credit worthiness assessment of exporters’ buyers has also been improved to increase efficiency and speed up service provision to the customers.

• Development of core banking system: The Bank has been developing its core banking system on trade finance, loan and deposit (TLD) to streamline the procedure and shorten the turnaround time in line with the Bank’s operational direction. System modification is underway to get prepared for the Bank’s business operation under its new role.