Bank of Thailand Calls for AMCs to Double Bad-Debt Purchases

The Bank of Thailand wants the nation’s asset management companies to double purchases of bad loans to help solve the high household debt problem, newly appointed Governor Vitai Ratanakorn said, zeroing in on a key structural impediment to growth.

Asset management companies, which buy banks’ distressed assets at substantial discounts, should absorb at least 20% of non-performing loans, the central bank chief said at a forum on Tuesday. Thailand has around 90 AMCs, with only half currently active, and their NPL absorption rate is only 10%, he said.