Expression of confidence in GSB by businessmen, others
Play
A group of 10 businessmen were seen on Tuesday at Government Savings Bank's headquarters, in a gesture that demonstrated their unabated confidence in the bank, which is suffering from massive deposit withdrawals.
Joining them were executives of state enterprisesand Salinee Wangtal, an assistant governor of Bank of Thailand, who currently serves as the chairperson of the Deposit Protection Agency.
Wiwat Theekhakeereekul, chairman of Car Mart, claimed that his group of businessmen deposited about Bt1 billion with the bank today, to show the public that financial institutions and farmers should not be used as a political tool.
“We don’t want a panic-driven bank run. Farmers are the underprivileged and deserve sympathy, as do financial institutions. The events can cause a chain reaction and this could affect the business sector. I admit that I’m concerned with the current political condition," he said.
Sumet Damrongchaitham, president of Dhanarak Asset Development – a venture of the Finance Ministry – was at the bank to open a new deposit account. He said that this should indicate the continuing confidence in GSB as a major mechanism to help farmers. He noted that any wrongdoers in the rice-pledging scheme should be punished, but in fairness, farmers should be spared from this chaos.
Salinee today bought additional savings tickets worth about Bt30,000, to express her confidence in the state-owned bank. She noted that GSB remains a strong institution, without any signs of a liquidity shortage.
Asked whether withdrawals at GSB would signal a systemic risk, she said that the situation was normal but it would be closely monitored.
Hundreds of GSB employees today demanded the ouster of the bank’s president, following his decision to lend Bt20 billion to the rice scheme, leading to the deposit withdrawals.
