Credit bureau sees jump in inquiries from cautious banks
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The National Credit Bureau (NCB) reported that credit inquiries by banks in the first eight months reached 10 million transactions, compared with 6.5 million during all of last year, reflecting financial institutions' stricter criteria.
Surapol Opasatien, chief executive officer of the NCB, said financial houses had become more cautious with their lending even though the rate of non-performing loans (NPLs) had not significantly increased.
Currently the NCB monitors 73 million accounts, of which 1.1 million are loans whose payments are more than 90 days past due.
Even though NPLs do not seem to be on the rise, the bureau is keeping a close eye on its 14 million personal-loan accounts.
He said the Student Loan Fund (SLF) recently asked the NCB to begin monitoring the credit of student borrowers, but the bureau will take that proposal to its board before asking the permission of the Bank of Thailand. If the SLF is not classified as a financial institution, regulations might have to be amended before it can become a member of the NCB.
The SLF reported 4.5 million accounts.
Krungthai Bank president Vorapak Tanyawong said KTB had increased the frequency of inquiries to help screen loan applicants.
“The higher level of household debt and the economic uncer-tainty have persuaded the bank to consider carefully applicants’ repayment ability. Even if debt-payment ability is at a good level, we should closely monitor the creditworthiness of retail and SME customers,” he said.
He said KTB earlier planned to raise its loan-growth target, but the economic uncertainty in the second half led it to maintain the target of 7 per cent, or 1.5 times the expected growth in gross domestic product.
GDP has seen slower growth due mainly to external factors, because two thirds of the Thai economy relies on exports, Vorapak said.
He noted that even if the planned public spending on the water-management and
infrastructure projects could not happen this year, foreign investment was expected to help drive GDP for the remainder of this year.
“Foreign investors are confident in Thailand as a hub of Asean. Japanese are going to invest in Thailand, and these investment flows will continue to support our economic growth,” he said.
