The measures will hit personal loan lenders harder than credit card operators, said chairwoman Nayanee Peaugkham. Each personal loan lender must adjust their own business strategy as the market will shrink, she said. The cap on personal loan lenders is part of the central bank's new set of regulations governing credit card and personal loans, aimed at curbing overspending and controlling household debt. Separately, Thakorn Piyapan, chairman of Credit Card Club and head of Krungsri Consumer, the unsecured lending arm of Bank of Ayudhya, said that interest income for overall credit card business overall will decline by 10% due to the central bank's reduced ceiling credit card interest rate -- down to 18% per year from 20%. The industry's credit card loan portfolio was 340 billion baht at the end of last year with NPLs at 2.9%.

Source: Bangkok Post July 27, 2017 22:07 UTC