This study examined the consumer finance market in Thailand in terms of:
(1) macro economic environment (population, GDP, consumption expense, country risk, etc.)
(2) demographic structure (distribution of age/income/occupation, etc.)
(3) features of consumer finance market (market size, product variation, major players, business models for each market, etc.)
(4) related regulation (interest rate ceiling, personal bankruptcy, etc.)
(5) infrastructure (credit reporting agency, etc.)
Like many developing nations, Thailand is changing rapidly from a cash and barter economy to one based on credit. The consumer finance industry has been one of the fast growing industries over the past decade and there are various consumer finance products and services have been available. There are four types of consumer finance product: (1) credit card, (2) home loan, (3) hire purchase, (4) personal loan. Major players can be divided by three categories: (1) local banks, (2) foreign banks, such as HSBC and CITI bank, (3) non-banks, which include AEON credit and EASY BUY. In 2004, over 8 million credit cards were issued. The hire purchase balances outstanding were 175.3 million baht, and the personal loans were over 20 million baht in terms of estimated balances of outstanding.
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