Thai banks strong, can weather economic uncertainty - central bank

On 5/20/2021 at 5:58 AM, Brierley said:

A few thoughts:

 

I never know what to believe when local people tell me their tales of woe. Certainly many of them are true but I never know how many are embellished for my benefit and how many are people looking for sympathy and handouts. Genuinely, I don't know.

 

If the loan shark industry were legal and regulated it could be reported upon, as things stand it's illegal so we all have to guess what those numbers might be. I wouldn't know where to begin with that.

 

It's easy to get overwhelmed by the doom and gloom of it all so it's important to remember the things that are going well or at least OK, as well as those that are not. Exports just had their best month ever, that is people and businesses making things and selling them overseas...best month ever. Officially, NPL's are 3.1%, that means there's 96.9% that are performing close to normally, that's business and people who are making and earning and paying their way.

 

 

I think going overboard with positivity is just as dangerous as going overboard with doom and gloom.

The markets are always going to follow a trend of exuberance or fear at some point, bull or bear. However it is in the unexpected where you find certainty. It will always happen. Question is when.

The only thing that differentiates trading and investing from gambling is that the former two are based on knowledge, facts and insights, trends and other pieces of information that someone who bets on a roll of a dice does not have. 

And banks are masters in participating in these trading and investing activities on their own account. However, they too can get it badly wrong. We have seen this in the past everywhere in the world from Thailand to USA to UK.