500,000 get loans from KBank based on
tech credit assessment and
without proof-of-income or collateral
Uses advanced technology and non-traditional credit evaluation methods
Bht 23,000 million in loans approved
“We’re making rapid progress with our ‘challenger bank’ goals to expand banking services to groups that had been excluded from the services and products of banks by traditional bank credit evaluation methods. It’ll help the unbanked and underbanked escape the debt traps of high-interest non-formal loans.”
Ms. Kattiya Indaravijaya, Chief Executive Officer, KASIKORNBANK
KASIKORNBANK (KBank), today (17 November), announced that it has extended small loans totaling over Bht 23,000 million to more than 500,000 people who have no proof-of-income documents or collateral, many of whom are the self-employed small enterprise owners. The loans were approved during the first nine months of this year, ending 30th September 2022.
Ms. Kattiya Indaravijaya, Chief Executive Officer, KASIKORNBANK, said, “We want to enable millions more people to benefit from banking products and services and are committed to technological leadership that will help us better serve this large group of underserved people and enterprises as well as even better serve our existing customers.”
Mr. Krit Jitjang, President, KASIKORNBANK, said that KBank aims to double the number of people empowered by the bank’s technology-driven programme to reach a million people within next 18 months, and to reach around two million within a further 24 months.
The initiative is a part of KBank’s strategic programme, announced in July this year, to boost access to banking services among Thailand’s 30 million unbanked and underbanked population, and which it has labeled its ‘challenger bank’ goals. The programme aims to leverage advanced technology and new ways of working to assist the self-employed, agriculturalists, and micro-enterprises with little or no collateral assets to borrow based on a fairer evaluation of their ability and intention to repay.
Mr. Jitjang said that within this group are around 63,000 entrepreneurs whose enterprises have less than two-and-a-half million baht in income a year. They have received almost 5,000 million baht in loans between January and September through the bank’s ‘Xpress Loan for SME’ programme.
Additionally, a further 215,000 people with income of less than Bht 30,000 a month, have received loans of up to Bht 20,000, each, through the bank’s ‘K PAY LATER’ programme.
“We can see from the K PAY LATER programme how this money is being spent, and it shows very clearly that the funds are being used to help people with their essential daily needs because most of the spending is through our partner merchants such as Big C, Lotus’s, CJ Express, PTT, Central and Makro.
“Additionally, we have also seen that the borrowers are being responsible with their loans such that we are able to grow our banking relationship and gradually increase their access to more banking services and products,” he said.
According to Mr. Jitjang, the number of transactions through K PAY LATER also increased tenfold during the same January-October period of this year.
KBank is accelerating its investments in technology with approximately Bht 22,000 million budgeted for this and the next two years.
