Siam City Bank eyes for better NPL deal

SCIB decides to suspend shedding off $271.7 million of non-performing loans due to low bids.

Executive vice-president Parinya Patanaphakdee said the bank opted to wait for next year as the bids were below what the bank had expected.

From 7.98 percent as of October, SCIB eyed to trim gross NPLs to 5 percent by yearend. Its net NPLs stand at 4.22 percent, as stated in a report in Bangkok Times.

The quality of bad assets had improved spurred by a better economic climate and the bank's management, said Mr Parinya. In particular, the Wangkanai Group, a large NPL customer in the sugar industry, has shown significant improvement because of higher commodity prices. Loan repayments of 4 billion baht ($120.70 million) have been carried over under a debt restructuring process.

The bank plans to make new loans of 18 billion baht ($543.15 million) in 2010, a growth rate of 6 percent year-on-year, in line with the industry's expected loan growth of 5-6 percent. The bank forecast Thai gross domestic product growth of 3.5 percent next year.