BOT hopeful for success of nano-finance despite slow start
The Bank of Thailand still believes nano-finance will save small businesses from falling into the clutches of loan sharks despite the current low demand for such loans.
“The secondary effect that we expected to happen is that the scheme could lower the level of loans from outside the financial system, and this should appear in time,” BOT Assistant Governor Ronadol Numnonda said yesterday.
The programme only began to offer credit to the public last month and only from two operators. The five other operators that have been licensed since April still need time to prepare.
The central bank is confident that as soon as more nano-finance firms are up and running and knowledge and awareness of the programme have been built up, the policy should be able to serve its purpose.
Since the scheme was launched, 22 non-bank financial institutions have applied and two of them, Thai Ace Capital and Fast Money Co, opened for business on May 6 and May 8.
As of May 31, they had only extended Bt620,000 to some 50 borrowers.
Besides the seven licensed nano-operators, seven are gathering documents, four are waiting for approval from the central bank and the Finance Ministry and four have backed out, as they realised that they were not ready to offer such loans.
All seven nano-operators are expected to join the government’s state-bank roadshow this weekend as an attempt to drum up interest in the scheme.
A nano-loan can only be used for business operations. The limit is Bt100,000 per operator and the interest rate is 36 per cent.
