GSB banking on new mortgage  strategies aimed at grass-roots clients

GSB banking on new mortgage  strategies aimed at grass-roots clients

By Phuwit Limviphuwat 
The Nation

The Government Savings Bank (GSB) aims to maintain annual profit at around Bt30 billion through three new mortgage strategies targeted at the grass-roots economy.

Last year, the bank made a profit of Bt30.8 billion and aims to maintain the same level this year, president and chief executive officer Chatchai Payuhanaveechai said on Monday.

The first strategy, titled “Save before Loan”, will allow members in the grass-roots economy to take out home loans if they have saved money consistently with the bank for at least one year.

The second method involves the GSB working with property developers. 

Under this strategy, Chatchai said, property developers can act as the middle-man and take out loans for their customers. 

The customer then pays the mortgage interest to their developer as rent for two years, before the residential ownership is transferred to them and they start paying the interest to the bank directly.

The third measure involves calculating the future income of the bank’s customers, so that those with low income can take out mortgages if their earnings will likely increase over the coming years, the CEO explained.

For the first quarter of this year, the GSB reported a profit of Bt6.08 billion, with interest revenue of Bt13.9 billion. 

Its non-performing loans stood at 2.83 per cent, a slight increase from the fourth quarter of 2018, when they came in at 2.81 per cent.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30370492