Thai banks to pay reduced FIDF fee

Thai banks will pay a reduced annual contribution of 0.23% of deposits to the Financial Institutions Development Fund (FIDF) for three years to help tackle household debt, Deputy Minister of Finance Paopoom Rojanasakul said on Wednesday.
Banks currently must pay an annual regular fee rate of 0.46% of their deposits to the FIDF, the Bank of Thailand’s (BoT) rescue arm that provides financial assistance to troubled institutions.
The Financial Institutions Policy Committee will meet later on Wednesday to discuss the FIDF fee along with other measures to resolve household debt, Mr Paopoom told reporters.
He said the three-year FIDF fee reduction is the same period as proposed interest suspensions for some borrowers.
The debt measures will help borrowers with debts that are up to a year overdue, totalling about 1.3 trillion baht ($38 billion), Mr Paopoom said.
They will cover overdue housing loans of up to 3 million baht, car loans not exceeding 800,000 baht and smaller firms’ loans of up to 3 million, he added.
“The moratorium on interest payments will enable these small households to resume debt repayment,” the deputy minister said.
The reduced FIDF contributions will not affect the repayment of outstanding FIDF debts and will not impact Thailand’s position, he added.
The government has been trying to reduce the debt burden of households, as it has restrained consumption and economic growth.
Thailand had a 89.6% household debt-to-GDP ratio at the end of June, with household debt totalling 16.3 trillion baht ($472 billion), among the highest levels in Asia.
Earlier this month, the Thai Bankers’ Association (TBA) announced that it is implementing a new debt restructuring programme covering borrowing valued at 1.4 trillion baht, aimed at alleviating household debt over three years.