FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

SCB sees more loans to SMEs under maximum guarantee

SCB sees more loans to SMEs  under maximum guarantee

SIAM COMMERCIAL Bank expects a sizeable number of small and medium-sized enterprises to be able to access loans when the Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation's maximum loan guarantee is increased to 30 per cent from 18 per cent, said SCB president Yol Phokas

 
The Cabinet is expected to approve the new TCG maximum, which was proposed by the Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking (JSCCIB) to the Office of SMEs Promotion. OSMEP agreed with the idea on Friday and forwarded it to the Cabinet.
Supant Monkolsuthree, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries and a member of the JSCCIB, said the Cabinet was expected to spend two weeks considering the proposal as a short-term measure to help SMEs access bank loans. 
The 30-per-cent loan guarantees will be terminated at the end of 2016, he said.
Yol said the higher loan guarantees would help increase the liquidity of many SMEs. In the past, SCB helped SMEs by offering debt restructuring, but if the higher TCG guarantees are approved by the Cabinet, the bank hopes to lend more to SMEs.
He believes the higher loan guarantee should benefit larger SMEs that need more funds from banks to stimulate their businesses while the economy is recovering. 
SCB believes the economy bottomed out in the second quarter and will start picking up from the third quarter onwards.
The bank hopes to see fewer non-performing loans (NPL) from new lending, but the second quarter might not show improvement in the gross NPL rate from the first quarter because its loan portfolio is large and it has not aggressively pursued new lending while it maintains a cautious policy.
Yesterday, SCB and the Federation of Thai Industries kicked off the 11th SCB-FTI Factory Outlet Fair to promote products |of Thai SMEs to end users. The organisers expect the fair to generate sales revenue of Bt18 million during its five-day run. The fair is being held until Friday at SCB headquarters.
 
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