More than 160,000 visitors attended the event, which was held last weekend.

Santi Viriyarangsarit, chairman of the second Money Expo Korat, yesterday said the fair had been successful with transactions of Bt10.51 billion, higher than the target of Bt9 billion.

From a total of 160,000 visitors, 28,272 customers applied for products from financial institutions.

Santi said that housing loans were the most popular financial products at the fair, with transactions totalling Bt6.62 billion - 62.99 per cent of the total - followed by loans of Bt2.36 billion for small and medium-sized enterprises, representing 22.46 per cent.

Personal loans ranked third, with transactions of Bt514.21 million. Santi said housing loans had been more popular this year as demand for residences in the Northeast is still high, while financial institutions offered special low housing-loan rates for customers at the expo.

Bt274.47 million of non-performing assets were sold at the event, for 2.61 per cent of the overall transaction value.

Credit cards were ranked next with transactions of Bt236.02 million, as financial institutions offered special promotions with waivers of credit-card fees and special prizes.

Mutual fund investments and life insurance purchases accounted for Bt160.25 million and Bt104.35 million, respectively. Saving certificates sold for Bt97.96 million at the expo.

Santi said most financial institutions that participated had been satisfied by the transactions achieved, which exceeded the original target despite the economic slow-down.