BANGKOK, 27 Feb 2014, Members of the National Credit Bureau (NCB) are reportedly performing financial background checks on their customers more often, because of the negative influence of the political conflict now affecting Thailand’s economy.
According to the NCB Managing Director, Surapon Opassatien, the background checks enable the NCB’s members to inspect their customers’ credit history when issuing new credit cards and assessing loan applications. The ongoing political turmoil and other negative economic factors have raised the level of household debt.
The NCB membership is comprised of commercial banks, business operators and investors.
Mr. Surapon revealed that last year 29.55 million personal credit histories had been examined, adding that the number is 43.10% more than that of a year earlier, which stood at 20.65 million checks. He said, similarly, the number of credit histories of legal entities that were inspected last year was 410,000, an increase of 78.26% from 2012. Meanwhile, the NCB said in 2013 its members checked 15.96 million matters related to credit reviews, a jump of 42.55% from 2012.
According to Mr. Surapon, in 2013 the NCB held records of 70.73 million personal accounts, which is equivalent to 25.10 million individuals. It also had credit records of 260,000 legal entities, accounting for 4.11 million accounts
