Islamic Bank Expands Lending In South

The state-owned Islamic Bank (IBank) has set target to expand its lending portfolio by another 20 billion baht in deep South this year, bank president Theerasak Suwannayos said.

The loan expansion is inline with the government’s policy to rehabilitate the economy and to curb the unrest in the five southern border provinces of Satun, Songkhla, Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, Mr Theerasak said.

However, the bank president admitted that his bank currently has only four billion baht liquidity in hands and he had discussed with Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij to ask for an approval for the bank’s plan to raise capital by six billion baht.

After the capital raising, the bank will have capacity to grant as many as 60 billion baht in new loans.