TMB EXPECTS TO HIT 2009 SME LOAN TARGET

       TMB Bank expects to provide new loans of Bt30 billion for small and mediumsized enterprise banking in the current quarter in order to hit the SME outฌstandingloan target of Bt112 billion for the year.
       Sayam Prasitsirigul, chief SME bankฌing officer at TMB Bank, said outstanding SME loans currently stood at Bt83 billion, while the bank expected to expand its SME credit by 3 per cent from the end this year to Bt112 billion.
       It had previously expected to achieve only 8090 per cent of the outstanding-loan target.
       He said the economy would improve next year and that the SME market would therefore expand.
       However, competition in the SME banking market was still high in terms of pricing, creditline offering and quick service. That said, during a bad economic situation, every player will only look for good customers.
       Overall SME banking business this year has been mainly focused on refinancing, which will continue into next year as there are new players in the market.
       However, TMB is focused on workingcapital loans more than refinancing loans.
       Regarding the SME newloan target of Bt30 billion during the fourth quarter, the bank expects to gain one half from refiฌnancing and the remainder from new cusฌtomers.
       "Currently, the bank has SME loans of more than Bt10 billion pending approval," said Sayam.
       Meanwhile, TMB's SME banking nonperforming loans are above 10 per cent, but most of them are legacy loans from the past. The bank has gradually solved the NPL problem in SME banking by itself, without having to sell its NPLs.
       The bank offers credit lines for SME customers at three times the collateral value, with a minimum interest rate of the minimum overdraft rate minus 1.5 percentage points. The bank's MOR stands at 6.5 per cent.

       SME banking business this year has been mainly focused on refinancing, which will continue into next year as there are new players in the market.