Banks respond to BOT’s call 

In a circular letter, the central bank called on lenders to implement measures to help customers directly and indirectly.
To help them directly, the financial institutions were asked to approve working-capital loans to customers who require money to fix their homes or businesses.
Indirectly, the lenders have been asked to waive or reduce fees for interest payments and reduce the minimum payment for credit-card debt.
The financial institutions have also been urged to relax lending conditions and report their outstanding loan position to the BOT.
They should also have a policy to help customers and be able to prove the effect such policies had on borrowers in each income segment.
Specialised financial institutions (SFIs) have been told to help normal customers by giving them new loans with special interest rates, a reduced principal or a longer repayment term. The BOT is allowing the SFIs to maintain the status of those borrowers.
The banks must also reveal to the BOT their monthly outstanding loans to customers who have been helped within 21 days of the end of this month to provide the central bank with useful information for monitoring its flood-assistance measures.
Several banks yesterday responded by reducing interest rates for flood-affected customers and setting up new credit lines to increase cash flows to customers who need funds to fix their businesses or homes.
Bangkok Bank set up three measures – a relaxed debt-repayment schedule, interest-rate relief and Bt10 billion in new credit lines, of which Bt5 billion is for one-year loans and Bt5 billion for five-year loans.
TMB Bank has launched help measures for small and medium-sized enterprises by waiving the principal payment for six months or waiving both the principal and interest payment for three months.
The bank has set aside additional loans with a special interest rate for SMEs which need working capital, with the loan approvals to be done on a case-by-case basis, said Boontuck Wungcharoen, chief executive officer of the bank.
For retail customers, TMB will waive debt payments for three months for housing-loan, personal-loan and credit-card customers. Customers can also ask for an extension of their repayment period.
TMB will offer additional loans to mortgage customers who want to fix their homes.
Land and Houses Bank (LH Bank) has offered to waive principal payments for 12 months or extend the repayment period by up to 12 months for retail customers.
The bank is offering a five-year overdraft loan to customers who want money to fix their houses, and those customers do not need to pay the principal for six months. The interest rate for the first year is minimum lending rate minus 1 percentage point, and for the second to fifth years the bank will charge customers the current MLR.
For business customers, LH Bank will waive principal payments for up to 12 months or extend the repayment term for up to 12 months.
Business customers can ask for an additional credit line of up to 20 per cent of the existing loan but not more than Bt10 million so they can increase their liquidity. 
Business customers who want to restore their enterprise can ask for a three-year loan from LH Bank, with clients being spared the principal payment for six months. The interest rate for the first year is 5 per cent, and after that will be MLR minus 1 percentage point.