Kasikornbank is joining with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) to offer special loans of 1.7 billion baht to assist Thai-Japanese businesses with investment expansion ahead of the Asean Economic Community (AEC).

Songpol Chevapanyaroj, an executive vice-president of KBank, said the special loans will charge 5-6% interest and have repayment instalment periods of up to six years, with a maximum credit limit of 330 million baht each.

KBank earlier teamed with the JBIC and 11 Japanese partner banks to offer special low-interest loans to Thai and Japanese businesses in Thailand affected by the 2011 floods.

The partnership programme has been enhanced to cover Japanese companies operating in Thailand whose parent firms back home possess registered capital of no more than 1 billion yen (317 million baht).