BANGKOK, 01 July 2015, According to Mr.Yuttachai Teyarachakul, Executive Director of Personal Financial Services, United Overseas Bank (Thai) Pcl., lower income credit card holders are at greater risk of contributing to Non-Performing Loans (NPLs).
In order to address the problem, he said UOB is to beef up its regulations in issuing new credit cards, as the local economy slows down. New card holders must have a minimum monthly income of 15,000 baht. In normal economic circumstances, the minimum income required to obtain a new credit card is 10,000 baht.
The bank issued up to 10,000 new credit cards per month during the first 5 months of this year. UOB is still likely to achieve its goal of issuing 120,000 new credit cards this year. The bank currently has about 700,000 card holders.
Mr.Yuttachai said UOB’s present reject rate of credit card applications is at 40-50 percent. The bank’s records show monthly credit card spending per person is at 4,000 – 5,000 baht
