Thai Bank profits to jump 200 percent: forecast
(Thailand) - First quarter profits in Thailand's banking system look set to leap 200 percent from the same period last year, mainly due to a reduction in provisioning burdens, according to a leading economic think tank.
In a report published yesterday, the Thai Farmers Research Centre predicted that first quarter net profits for 12 Thai commercial banks would hit around Bt11.51 billion (US$270 million), up 218.81 percent from the same period in 2002, or a more modest rise of 25.82 percent from the previous quarter.
The report attributed this rise to a sharp reduction in provisioning expenses, from Bt24.2 billion in the final quarter of 2002 to only Bt4.14 billion in the first quarter of this year, in turn due to a rush by banks to build up provisioning before the end of the year before the introduction of a new provisioning system by a number of private sector banks in 2003.
The report attributed this rise to a sharp reduction in provisioning expenses, from Bt24.2 billion in the final quarter of 2002 to only Bt4.14 billion in the first quarter of this year, in turn due to a rush by banks to build up provisioning before the end of the year before the introduction of a new provisioning system by a number of private sector banks in 2003.
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