Thailand’s second-biggest lender Kasikornbank, also called KBank, is in talks to acquire consumer finance provider Home Credit Vietnam as part of its ASEAN business expansion, Bangkok Post reported on Monday. 

Earlier, Reuters revealed that the deal may be worth up to US$1 billion.

Home Credit Vietnam is part of the Netherlands-headquartered non-bank financial institution Home Credit Group. 

It started operations in Vietnam in 2008 and has grown to employ 6,000 staff serving 12 million customers, according to its website.

Besides cash loans, the company offers installment credits to buy motorcycles and consumer durables. It has 9,000 outlets in the Southeast Asian country, its website showed.

Home Credit Group plans to sell its businesses across ASEAN, Bangkok Post quoted KBank executive vice-president Pattarapong Kanhasuwan as saying. 

“The deal is in the early stages and the bank needs to spend more time studying the feasibility and pricing before making a decision on bidding,” he said. 

“In addition to Home Credit, we are exploring other potential deals in Vietnam.”

KBank, based in Bangkok, has total assets worth $119.7 billion, second only to Bangkok Bank in Thailand, Refinitiv data showed.

It opened a branch in Vietnam in August 2022. 

The bank set a target of 20 billion baht (US$564,700) in outstanding loans and a customer base of 1.2 million in the country in 2023. 

Pattarapong said for the Vietnamese market, KBank focuses its growth on three core areas -- business scale, customer base, and competitiveness. 

In June, the Thai lender obtained the Vietnamese central bank’s approval to raise core capital for its business in the country to $285 million from $80 million, becoming the second-biggest foreign bank after Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui.

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