SCB Asset Management (SCBAM) has waived front-end fees and management fees as a strategy to enlarge its investor base by capturing the middle class and mass markets.
SCBAM chief executive Narongsak Plodmechai said the company is the first asset management firm offering waivers of both fees, conditioned on investment in the SCB SET index fund (SCBSET), with an investment sum ranging from 1 baht to 1 million baht.
People can invest in the fund via a new mobile app called "SCBAM Fund Click" that will be available to download starting from mid-December.
"We chose the fee waivers only for investment in SCBSET because the fund is easy to understand, has risk diversification, and its return tracks the SET index," said Mr Narongsak.
"Investors can find more fund information using the digital tool. We hope to attract the mass market and middle-class investors with this tool."
As of Nov 13, SCBSET's assets under management (AUM) stood at 15.75 billion baht, with an investment unit valued at 21.01 baht.
The company expects to increase the number of SCBSET investors from 500,000 accounts to 1.5 million over the next three years.
SCBAM expects total AUM to reach 1.5 trillion baht by this year-end, a 7-8% rise year-on-year. The firm targets similar AUM growth in 2019.
Mr Narongsak said SCBAM is the first Thai asset management company to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) to manage equity investment portfolios.
The first fund managed by AI, known as SCB Machine Learning Thai Equity fund, was established four months ago, with the fund's AUM valued at 2 billion baht.
The company will open its second AI fund targeting investment in the global markets. SCB Global Machine Learning Equity fund has registered AUM of around 3 billion baht and will be distributed from Nov 20-26, with a minimum investment sum of 1,000 baht.
The fund has a policy to invest in exchange-traded funds and will screen stocks from 25 of the 47 countries listed on the MSCI All-Country World Index.
As AI is set to replace some parts of the labour force in the near future, that segment includes routine work in money market funds, which requires minimal skill to build up investment returns as the returns are fixed, said Mr Narongsak.
