Siam Commercial Bank’s $100m Digital Ventures fund may become a new standalone company, as it considers spinning off subsidiaries.
Thailand-based financial services firm Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) is looking to spin off some of its financial technology entities, potentially including venture capital subsidiary SCB Digital Ventures, Bloomberg has reported.
Digital Ventures was launched in 2016 with $50m in capital and its early investments focused on limited partner commitments, including funds being raised by Nyca Partners and Dymon Asia Ventures.
SCB increased Digital Ventures’ fund size to $100m in May 2018 and the unit has ramped up its direct investment efforts in recent months, backing ride hailing platform Gojek and asset management technology developer Pagaya among others.
Orapong Thien-Ngern, CEO of Digital Ventures and co-president of SCB, told Bloomberg the bank expects one of its fintech subsidiaries – understood to be either Digital Ventures or electronic payments services provider National ITMX – has the potential to achieve a $1bn valuation.
Thien-Ngern said: “Thai banking like most other countries is a sunsetting industry, as existing lenders and new players are competing for limited pools of customers.
“Venture capital and technology investments will be the key survival strategies for SCB in attracting new customers and boosting earnings.”