Banks agree to offer attractive loan packages to hotels

Predee Daochai, chairman of Thai Bankers’ Association, said the TBA made this programme known at yesterday’s meeting of the Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking (JSCCIB).

Predee said each commercial bank would launch its own package targeting hotels, but the TBA wants to make it clear to the hotel industry that the banking sector is interested in supporting it.

“Interest rates will depend on each bank. But the principle of this [programme] is that credit lines will be 80 per cent of the capital requirement of the client, higher than normal for this sector, and the repayment term will be five years, higher than the general term of three years,” he said.

Guest houses and apartments are not included in the programme, said Predee, who is also president of Kasikornbank.

The TBA and the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission last week discussed mobile-banking security, and the two agencies will hold a press conference on the matter soon with the objective of increasing the confidence of consumers in the use of mobile banking.

“Financial transactions have been made on mobile [devices], so we must provide the right information about how to use mobile banking safely,” he said.

The meeting with the NBTC was held after a security breach involving a KBank client two weeks ago.

At its meeting yesterday, the JSCCIB acknowledged that the 3.5-per-cent economic growth posted in the second quarter was higher than forecast, but the economic situation in July showed that the recovery was slowing again, and government expenditure was also lower than in the previous months. Therefore, the JSCCIB has maintained its forecast that gross domestic product this year will grow by 3-3.5 per cent and exports in the range of minus-2 per cent to 0 per cent.

Predee said the economic performance in the second quarter was encouraging, and the JSCCIB would consider its full-year GDP growth forecast again at its meeting next month.

The standing committee yesterday expressed concern over the baht’s appreciation. Even though the baht’s movement is in line with its regional peers, its strength might have an impact on exporters.

Jane Namchaisiri, president of the Federation of Thai Industries, said that if the baht moved with high volatility, it could pose a risk to exporters during the rest of this year even though it is the high season for the export sector.