Bank of Ayudhya
Bank of Ayudhya
Bank of Ayudhya Public Company Limited, branded and commonly referred to as Krungsri (sometimes stylized as krungsri), is the fifth largest bank in Thailand in terms of assets, loans, and deposits. Through its branches and service outlets in Thailand and abroad, the company provides banking, consumer finance, investment, asset management, and other financial products and services to small and medium enterprises, large corporations and individual customers. The Bank of Ayudhya was established on 27 January 1945 in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province, the old capital of Thailand. The bank opened its doors on 1 April 1945 with registered capital of one million baht. In 1970, the bank's head office was relocated to Ploenchit Road, coinciding with the bank's celebration of the royal appointment (garuda) emblem, granted by the king to the bank on 15 May 1970. The bank was listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand on 26 September 1977, trading symbol, "BAY". On 3 January 2007, Krungsri and GE Capital became strategic partners. GE Capital and Ratanarak Group were major shareholders with a 33 percent and a 25 percent stake in BAY, respectively. In September 2012, GE announced the sale of 7.6 percent of its stake in Krungsri via a number of block trades, reducing their ownership to 25.33 percent. On 18 December 2013, MUFG Bank, Ltd., the wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), Japan's largest banking group, replaced GE Capital as the major shareholder of Krungsri. After having undergone many changes in the late 2000s, including the acquisition of GE Money Thailand, and in order to reach its goal of becoming one of the top three banks in Thailand, Bank of Ayudhya felt the need to visually unify its subsidiaries. Also, the company was perceived as an "old lady bank". Therefore, in 2014, Bank of Ayudhya rebranded to "Krungsri" (shortened from กรุงศรีอยุธยา, "capital city/revered city Ayutthaya"), a name the bank was already colloquially known as. In news articles, the formal and colloquial names are used interchangeably, while for the bank's own marketing (such as logos, URL, storefronts, ATMs, bank cards and promotional material) "Krungsri" is used.
