CHAMPION SERIES

Krungsri: Transforming the homebuying journey

July 2020 Creating a better mortgage experience

The mortgage business has long been lucrative for . But for as long as it has been profitable, it has been a complex and frustrating process for clients. These types of processes are ripe for disruption from innovative financial institutions. Krungsri , in Thailand, is one such institution that has done incredible work and has created industry-leading products.

At Efma, we understand the importance of sharing best practices from across the industry. So, we are delighted to share the next installment of our ‘Champions series’, produced exclusively for our members. Krungsri is an Efma member that continually impresses us, and the industry, with their ability to innovate and create new products that exceed their customers’ needs. This edition highlights the impressive recent achievements from Krungsri and their mortgage digitization team.

For banks, now is the time to be rethinking business models and expanding digital offerings. Customers and employees are more dependent than ever on digital tools. So how can financial institutions capitalize on this accelerating shift? The answer is clear: enhance the customer experience on digital platforms and deliver more value to customers. There is no better place to do this than in areas that have been stagnant and resistant to change for years, like the home-buying process.

In this publication’s interviews, senior figures from Krungsri describe how they conducted serious market research to identify pain points for customers on their homebuying journey. They then discuss their approach to executing on their new digital strategy that has resulted in increased customer satisfaction and improved figures for the bank.

As you will see, it took a cultural transformation and a new way of working at the bank to develop and deliver its innovative new tools. We hope you enjoy Krungsri’s story of innovation in the pages that follow. l

John Berry CEO, Efma

3 Krungsri: a leader in Thailand

The Public Company Limited, better known as Krungsri, officially opened its doors on April 1, 1945. It experienced rapid growth and was listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand on September 26,1977. In 2013, Krungsri reached a key milestone in their history when they became a subsidiary of MUFG Bank, Ltd. (MUFG Bank)*, which is the wholly owned subsidiary of UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Japan’s largest banking group and one of the world’s largest financial groups. Its core tenets are grounded in good governance. By adhering to the highest ethical standards and a steadfast commitment to transparency, the bank ensures that everyone it interacts with knows what they stand for.

This is important given the current-day status of the bank. Its steady growth over the years has positioned the bank as a pivotal part of the Thai economy. With nearly 700 branches in the country and a total registered capital of THB 75,741 million, Krungsri is Thailand’s fifth largest universal bank in terms of assets, loans and deposits. Krungsri has 20 subsidiaries and joint ventures constantly striving to respond to ever-changing customer needs by offering a comprehensive range of universal banking financial products and services to its three key target groups: corporates, SMEs and consumers. They have become a leading player in personal loans and credit cards, with respective market shares of 32% and 16%. In September 2017, Krungsri was recognized as ‘A Domestic Systemically Important Bank (D-SIB)’ by the Bank of Thailand, playing a key role in driving the country’s economic engines and financial system.

Krungsri also demonstrates its commitment to financial inclusion through its work in the micro lending segment. Ngern Tid Lor, its joint venture, is a market leader that provides microfinance services to under-banked and unbanked segments, which mirror their efforts in improving financial access to underserved segments and responsible lending practices.

The bank is consistently recognized by organizations for its work. Some of their awards include:

• Asia’s bestThe CEOfull content (Investor ofrelations) this report (2015-2019) is exclusively reserved for • Asia’sEfma best CFOmember (Investor institutions. relations) (2015-2019) If you wish to know more about • Best investorgaining relations full access company to exclusive (Thailand) content, (2014-2019) as well as other • (2019) Best investorbenefits, relations go towww.efma.com/joinefma professional or contact • Best environmental responsibility (2019) [email protected]

Beyond Krungsri’s sterling reputation for good governance, its importance to Thailand, and its inclusion efforts, the bank is an innovation leader, continually looking for ways to unlock new business value and deliver superior experiences to their customers. In this report, we will dive deeper into their achievements in these areas. More specifically, two aspects of their Krungsri digital mortgage initiative: Di-Sales and Home Loan Connect.

4 Krungsri: Transforming the homebuying journey Starting in 2017, the Krungsri conducted extensive market research into mortgage customer experiences. Mortgage products are common and banks typically only compete on two fronts: lower interest rates and lending higher lump sum loan amounts. It is essentially just a pricing war. However, Krungsri found that many other factors vary into a customer’s decision on a lender, such as the approval process, time to approve loan, and notably how bank staff respond to and service their customers.

So, the bank created Di-Sales, an application for home loans that simplifies and streamlines the work of branch agents. The bank identified pain points for both customers and direct sales officers. Those areas of difficulty included a lengthy applicationThe full process, content unknown of this status report and is process, exclusively hard to reservedfind interest for rate schemes, and inconsistent responses to customer’s questions. So, in the first Agile project using Scrum methodology at the bank, they developed a mobileEfma application member for institutions. branch agents If thatyou would wish make to know their workmore easier about and enable them to provide more proactivegaining customer full service. access to exclusive content, as well as other benefits, go towww.efma.com/joinefma or contact The bank then went one step further, [email protected] the application with property developers via Home Loan Connect. By integrating the home buying journey with top property developers via open APIs, they were able to support both customers and property developer sales throughout the entire mortgage journey with a paperless and superior customer experience. Krungsri was the first bank in Thailand to offer new mortgage application submission channels and real-time status updates to property developers.

Both facets of the digital mortgage initiative have been impressive and incredibly successful. The most forward- looking financial institutions are those that realize the need to innovate and rethink the way they do business. Krungsri is that sort of financial institution, as demonstrated by its digitization efforts. As the bank celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, it is clear they are on an upward trajectory. That is why Efma wanted to highlight their achievements in this Champions report, believing that their story can inspire and motivate others in the financial services industry. l

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