A bank employee gathers Thai baht notes at Kasikornbank in Bangkok
BANGKOK – Kasikornbank PCL, Thailand’s fourth-largest lender by assets, aims for a loan growth of 8-9 percent in 2015, in line with the country’s economic growth forecast, a bank executive said.
Loan growth is an important gauge of a banks’ performance and usually runs at a rate 1.5 times higher than gross domestic product (GDP).
The projection was based on the assumption that GDP will grow by 3.5-4.5 percent next year, boosted by government spending and rising exports, Kasikornbank President Preedee Daochai told reporters late on Monday.
The bank’s loans grew 4.32 percent in the first nine months of this year, with gross non-performing loans (NPLs) at 2.16 percent of total lending, the bank said in a statement released late on Monday.
Gross NPLs are expected to be 2.2-2.3 percent of total lending next year, when it aims for net interest margins at 3.5-3.7 percent compared with 3.7 percent in the first nine months of 2014, it said. (Reuters)