Fitch Ratings projects a negative outlook for Thailand's banking sector this year because of rising loan impairment. "These trends are consistent with our negative outlook on the sector," the credit rating agency said. The 2016 results showed loan growth fell to 3.9%, from 5.8%. Fitch expects banks' average loan-loss and CET1 ratios to continue to rise, although not as rapidly as in recent years. It kept a stable outlook for most Thai banks, despite the negative sector outlook.

Source: Bangkok Post February 01, 2017 00:05 UTC