Bangkok--May 15--BBL
The opening of a Bangkok Bank in-store outlet at Carrefour Petchkasem marks the beginning of a partnership between the Bank and the hypermarket operator.
BBL is the first bank to open an outlet in a Carrefour store in Thailand. The new outlet, which is located on the first floor of Carrefour’s branch, opened for business yesterday.
Deja Tulananda, Bangkok Bank Senior Executive Vice President, said the Bank is delighted about the co-operative venture with Carrefour, which is a retailer with a worldwide operation.
“I hope that this is the beginning of a long and prosperous relationship,” he said.
Carrefour’s first store was established in France in 1963, the world’s first ‘hypermarket’. Its worldwide operation now comprises nearly 400 branches in 20 countries. Since 1996, it has opened 10 branches in Thailand, 9 in Bangkok and 1 in Chiang Mai. As well as providing a one-stop shopping service, Carrefour reaches out to customers in suburban areas.
“This policy goes well with BBL’s business direction, which is to take our service to customers wherever they are,” Mr Deja said.
The new branch is an indication of BBL’s determination to provide an enhanced service to retail customers.
The new in-store outlet in Carrefour is a self-service outlet equipped with modern automated machines. It provides basic banking services such as cash deposits and withdrawals, bill payments, and a passbook update.
Among the state-of-the-art automated machines at the outlet is a cash deposit machine, which updates passbooks and issues a deposit slip to the customer immediately after they make a transaction.
Mr Deja said once the Bank obtains permission from the Bank of Thailand to operate the in-store outlets as full branches, these outlets will provide other services, such as cash deposit and withdrawal, opening new accounts,currency exchange, and loans.
Bangkok Bank plans to open 21 in-store outlets in Bangkok and the provinces this year. The Bank has already opened three outlets in Bangkok and one in Surat Thani. The new branch at Phetchkasem is its fifth in-store branch. End.
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