President Pongsak Chewcharat said his bank would contact its debtors directly, to discuss their situation and attempt to find mutually acceptable solutions.

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula undertook to tackle the problem of non-performing loans at specialised financial institutions.

He wants state-owned banks to upgrade their loan-loss provisioning standards to the level recently implemented by commercial banks.

If any banks' provisions are lower than the new standard, they might have to increase their capital, he said.

The SME Bank is reportedly the state-owned specialised bank most affected by the new finance minister's policy.

"For debtors who fail to join the rehabilitation plan by the end of November, the bank will sue them and their guarantors," said Pongsak. "The bank will also blacklist them and join with other government agencies, including financial institutions and organisations that have supported these entrepreneurs, to stop any future help for them.

"On the other hand, if they are good entrepreneurs, these supporters should continue to provide assistance."

Pongsak said the SME Bank would send a team into the field to offer "one on one" assistance

to entrepreneurs who have real financial problems but are still running their businesses with

the intention of repaying their debts.

"We are running a 'marketplace' project," said Pongsak.

"It will put the entrepreneurs' products into exhibitions in government and state-enterprise areas, such as the Industry Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the Public Health Ministry and PTT offices," he said.

Lately, the bank has helped 20 entrepreneurs sell products worth more than Bt1.4 million by setting up booths at the Export Promotion Department.

"We'll run a similar help programme throughout the rest of the year," he said.