Bright economy expected to boost attendance, transactions at '12th Money Expo'
Money & Banking magazine, organiser of the "12th Money Expo" to be held from May 17-20 at Impact Muang Thong Thani, predicts this year's event will spur more than Bt120 billion in transactions.
Santi Viriyarangsarit, editor of the magazine and president of Money Expo, said yesterday that the space at this year’s fair had been increased by 10,000 square metres to 35,000sqm to serve an expected rise in the number of visitors and participating partners.
About 800,000 visitors attended the expo last year, and transactions totalling Bt120 billion were generated after the event was moved to the Impact venue.
The company expects the bright momentum of the economy will attract more than 900,000 visitors to this year’s expo, while the transaction level is expected to exceed last year’s figure.
The 12th Money Expo is being held under the concept of "Unlimited Future". The organiser is also setting up new Wealth Management zone for private banking customers with assets under management worth Bt5 million and above.
Many investors are expected to attach greater importance to wealth management because of the upcoming cut in deposit protection to Bt1 million per bank per account, from Bt50 million currently. The new zone should therefore attract a good number of private banking customers during the four-day event, Santi said.
The organiser is also increasing the size of the Tourism zone in cooperation with the Tourism Authority of Thailand. The promotion of local tourism and spending will in turn boost the transactions and products of financial houses, he added.
Home-loan products are expected to be the most popular, with many banks offering zero-interest deals during the expo.
Mortgages were the most popular product at the previous Money Expo with combined transactions of Bt79 billion, followed by Bt23.03 billion worth of loans to small and medium-sized enterprises.
Kasikornbank expects to generate transactions worth Bt20 billion at the show, which would be 10 per cent above the level at last year’s event.
TMB Bank also estimates transactions worth Bt20 billion, mostly from housing loans.
Krung Thai Bank predicts transactions at its booth this year should grow by 10 per cent to Bt12 billion, with mortgages expected to be the most popular product.
Senior executive vice president Weidt Nuchjalearn said most banks are expected to strongly promote home loans by offering soft loans at the event.
To date, only Bt2 billion of the Bt300 billion available under the government’s soft-loan scheme has been taken up, leading to the criticism that participating banks have been rather slow in approving loans.
