Total spending on credit cards issued by both commercial banks and non-bank companies reached Bt63.9 billion in January, rising by 25.23 per cent from the same period last year, of which Bt29.7 billion was spending on Thai banks' credit cards - an increase of 25.97 per cent.

The high spending resulted in a sharp increase of 21.13 per cent in outstanding loans to Bt143.4 billion as of January. Of the total, non-bank companies' credit-card loans rose sharply by 30.67 per cent to Bt50.9 billion, the highest figure compared with other card-issuers.

Earlier, the Monetary Policy Committee expressed concern about non-bank credit-card businesses that continue to rise sharply despite earlier BOT measures to curb the overheated business.

Thai banks' outstanding credit-card loans, however, grew only 10.24 per cent to Bt48.9 billion in January, although their credit-card accounts rose by 21.8 per cent, the highest growth among issuers.

Non-bank accounts increased by 10.3 per cent compared with January last year, but they remained major operators in the market with more than five million accounts in hand. Foreign banks' accounts numbered one million, growing almost 10 per cent from the same period last year.

Credit-card holders spent Bt45.9 billion in Thailand in January, an increase by 27.6 per cent from January last year. Domestic spending was mostly done via cards issued by Thai banks, increasing 30 per cent to Bt24.7 billion in January.

Spending on the cards issued by non-bank firms and foreign banks was Bt15.1 billion and Bt6.1 billion respectively.

In addition, issuers' cash withdrawals also rose almost 20 per cent to Bt15.96 billion in January. Withdrawals from cards issued by foreign banks rose sharply, by 57 per cent, but most cash withdrawals were done on cards issued by Thai banks with Bt11.96 billion in January. Non-bank cardholders withdrew Bt3.3 billion, a 19.3-per-cent increase, in January compared with the same period last year.

Spending on cards issued by foreign banks was popular among shoppers abroad in January as it rose by 31.7 per cent to Bt368 million, but most spending was  through non-bank cards - Bt845.5million with 6.12-per-cent growth.

Anoma Srisukkasem

The Nation