year despite acknowledging Thailand's economic slow-down.

The French-based consumer-loan provider expects new lending to provide 50-per-cent growth this year over its total outstanding loans of Bt6 billion.

Its personal loans in particular are expected to double, from Bt1 billion currently to Bt2 billion, this year, said CEO Claude Ginier.

"We recognise that Thailand's economy is in a downward trend, so we must be more stringent on loan approval. But we expect to achieve the target, as the

company has several business strategies for this year," he said.

The subsidiary of French bank BNP Paribas plans to expand its client base of both store partners and individual customers from its current 40,000 contracts and 650,000 borrowers, respectively. Moreover, it is expected to open its first branch in Thailand this month and plans to open about 10 more outlets throughout the Kingdom over the next two years.

Ginier said Cetelem also planned to launch credit cards under its own brand name around July, as well as continuing with the co-branded cards offered at present.

The company's loan portfolio consists of about 80 per cent hire-purchase and co-branded credit-card loans and 20 per cent personal loans.

Its new loan structure will see the ratio of personal loans increase to 50 per cent, because the company wants to diversify into long-term loan products. The proportion of hire-purchase loans will fall to 30 per cent, and the remaining 20 per cent will be credit-card loans.

Ginier said that over the first two months of this year, the company recorded new-loan growth of 30 per cent year on year.

However, global parent the Cetelem Group will revise its business target in about May or June, and Cetelem (Thailand) will follow suit.

The company currently has non-performing loans amounting to 7.5 per cent of total loans, and this is an "acceptable" rate compared with an average of 8 per cent for the global group, Ginier said.

Cetelem (Thailand) has operated a consumer-finance business in Thailand for about seven years. It believes that when its total loan portfolio increases to Bt8 billion, it will reach the break-even point. Over the next three to five years, the company expects its total loan portfolio to rise to Bt10 billion.

Somruedi Banchongduang

The Nation