Money Expo falls short of target

The magazine, organiser of the expo, earlier estimated that the event would spur more than Bt120 billion in transactions and attract more than 900,000 visitors. However, the actual transactions totalled Bt92.92 billion and there were more than 850,000 visitors.
According to the organiser, the heavy rain during the four days was the main reason for the lower transactions and attendance.
Home loans remained the most popular product, representing 60.44 per cent of total transactions, or Bt56.17 billion, followed by loans to small and medium-sized enterprises of Bt25.58 billion and deposits of Bt5.18 billion.
The transactions of home loans and deposits at Money Expo 2012 were lower than at last year’s event. Home loans extended at Money Expo 2011 totalled Bt78.99 billion, SME loans Bt23.03 billion and deposit products Bt11.97 billion.
Chatchai Payuhanaveechai, executive vice president of Kasi-kornbank, said the transactions at the KBank booth were more than Bt10 billion, lower than the target of Bt20 billion in transactions.
He said visitors this year had more choice of investments, adding that customers had shifted to invest in mutual funds and gold, while the size of mortgages was smaller in line with the size of residences.
“Customers have purchased smaller homes, so the amount of home loans was also reduced,” he said.
He added that transport and the weather were the main factors in the lower attendance.
The Money Expo was held at Impact Muang Thong Thani.
Savings products including gold, mutual funds and savings insurance were hot products at the event.
The total transactions involving savings products was Bt8.38 billion. The most popular were savings accounts with annual interest of 3.50 per cent of CIMB Thai Bank and the four-month fixed-deposit account, also yielding of 3.50 per cent per annum, of Kiatnakin Bank.
Mutual-fund products of Bank of Ayudhya at the expo increased by 10 per cent to more than Bt650 million.
Naris Achalanan, senior vice president of Muangthai Life Assurance, said the company achieved premiums of Bt200 million from Smart Saving 5/1 insurance products on the first day because the product gave higher returns than deposits.