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CONSUMER FINANCE
CHADAMAS CHINMANEEVONG
Piriyah Wisedjinda, the president of GE Money Thailand, discusses the firm's `Spend Smart' responsible borrowing programme at a briefing yesterday. |
The consumer finance provider GE Money expects growth to slow to 10% this year from 15% last year on lower consumer purchasing power, rising inflation and a weaker economy.
GE Money president Piriyah Wisedjinda said the company was also taking a more proactive stance to reduce credit delinquencies, particularly among low-income groups.
He said the company now had around 10,000 non-performing clients, whom it was trying to help through debt restructuring and interest-rate reductions.
Industry-wide, delinquency rates stand at around 4% for the 17 million credit cards in circulation.
GE Money, a unit of the US conglomerate General Electric, has around four million customers.
The clients are split between credit cards and personal loans, with a delinquency rate of 3.4%.
But most analysts expect that non-performing loan rates will rise in the second half as a result of higher inflation and interest rates and slowing growth.
According to Kasikorn Research, bad loans in the financial system rose to 453 billion baht in the first quarter from 440 billion at the end of 2007, due largely to relapses by previously restructured corporate debtors facing difficulty in passing on higher costs to consumers.
Mr Piriyah said GE Money was tightening application procedures to reduce its risk, and had launched an education programme to emphasise to consumers the importance of prudent spending.
GE Money yesterday launched its ''Spend Smart'' campaign as part of its ''responsible lending practices'' policy.
The campaign would seek to remind consumers to consider their ability to afford goods before making purchases. GE Money would place the ''Spend Smart'' icon on 12 million leaflets, mailers, billing statements and point-of-sale displays to promote the concept.
''In the industrial sector, companies aim to win the trust of consumers through 'green' programmes. In our sector, we aim to do that through responsible lending practices,'' Mr Piriyah said.
GE Money, which holds a 34.9% stake in Bank of Ayudhya, offers installment and personal finance services as well as credit card services through three joint ventures: Krungsriayudhya Card, General Card Service Co and Tesco Card Service.
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