Bangkok--20 Apr--KASIKORNBANK
KASIKORNBANK, working with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and 11 Japanese banks, is offering 2.8 billion Baht (7.5 billion Japanese Yen) in soft loans for flood recovery to Japanese companies in Thailand and to Thai companies with Japanese links. Supporting recovery from losses due to last year’s flooding, the loans will facilitate continuing operations in Thailand, according to KASIKORNBANK CEO and President, Mr. Banthoon Lamsam.
The loans, in amounts up to 100% of investment value and terms of up to seven years, are being offered at special lending rate of 4-5% with no interest for the first year. Potential borrowers are Thai-based Japanese businesses or companies that owned by Japanese nationals, whose parent SMEs in Japan have registered capital not exceeding one billion Yen. Thai businesses that purchase goods from Japanese operators and/or that manufacture goods supplied to Japanese operators may also qualify. Those firms are eligible whose workplaces were flooded directly or that, though not directly hit by the floods, had their production processes interrupted by materials shortages or by cut transport links.
Sixty percent of the 2.8 billion Baht is being made available by the JBIC, the remaining 40 percent by 11 local Japanese banks: The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, The Hokuto Bank, The Shonai Bank, The Toho Bank , The Hachijuni Bank, The Shizuoka Bank, The Bank of Kyoto, The Chugoku Bank, ,The Hiroshima Bank, The Bank of Fukuoka and The Higo Bank. Last year’s floods hit the Thai economy with losses of about 1.3 trillion Baht. The electronics and automotive parts industries were hardest hit, with most of the losses occurred in Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani provinces, where a great many Japanese companies are located on industrial estates. KBank customers include 1,800 Japanese firms operating in Thailand, 300 of which suffered losses directly caused by flooding. There are 3,200 firms in Thailand whose parent firms are SMEs in Japan.
KBank’s Mr. Banthoon notes that the Bank has introduced a number of measures to help business customers recover from flood damage, including tailored, reduced-interest, short- and long-term emergency loans; reduced-fee financial management services; and working with 19 Japanese partner banks in providing Standby Letters of Credit giving an urgently needed boost to the credit of flood-affected Japanese companies. The current soft loan offering again reflects the significance KBank gives to Japanese businesses in Thailand. One of the Bank’s goals is to become the most preferred Thai bank among Japanese investors and to increase our share of the Japanese business market to 18% by the end of 2013, claiming the largest portion among Thai banks. KBank currently partners with 19 Japanese banks, and is aiming to expand those relationships to cover all of Japan’s 47 prefectures.