Bangkok Bank confident of strong growth
Bangkok Bank expects strong business lending growth in the next six months as the private sector works aggressively to recover from the flood disaster.
Deja Tulananda, executive vice chairman of Bangkok Bank, said the private sector would require massive loans as businesses rebuild their capacity. This would offset the lower demand for loans during the floods, which will have an impact on bank profitability in the current fourth quarter.
He said the bank had to help existing customers in terms of interest and fees, further affecting profitability in the quarter.
The bank is not worried about non-performing loans because |the Bank of Thailand has eased |the conditions for NPLs. However, the NPL rate will likely be affected after the flood recedes, especially in the household segment, as individual borrowers might be unaware of the bank’s financial assistance programmes for flood victims.
Deja said the fragile European economy was having an impact on the Thai economy as well as the local flooding.
“The outlook for lending next year cannot be assured, whether growth will be higher or lower than this year,” he said.
Bangkok Bank executive chairman Kosit Panpiemras said the flooding and its aftermath would definitely hit gross domestic product in the current quarter and the first quarter of next year. All sectors must include the flooding impact in their business plans, and the bank will hold a seminar on November 23 on how businesses can handle flood recovery.
