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Published on April 22, 2008

Siriporn Chanjindamanee

The Nation

Up to 130 state and private banks and financial institutions will show up as exhibitors at the four-day fair starting from May 8 at the Queen National Sirikit Convention Centre.

They will offer special promotions for mortgages, SMEs, personal loans, auto hire purchases and credit-card loans in the annual fair, said Santi Viriyarungsarit, editor-in-chief of Money & Banking Magazine, and chairman of the 8th Money Expo 2008.

A selection of investment-related products, including mutual funds, debt instruments, derivatives, and gold, will be available at the Expo. Some investment experts would also be present. The Expo would also feature a seminar entitled "Smart Investment: Enrich Your Life".

About 700,000 visitors are expected to visit the fair, compared with 650,000 last year, Santi said.

"We expect that about 140,000 visitors this year will make transactions for a combined amount of Bt80 billion. Last year, Bt76 billion of financial transactions were done at the fair," he said.

To maximise investor demand, another two zones - mutual funds and business book fair - will be added to the Money Expo, he said.

The mutual-fund zone will be located in Hall A to enable customers to have access to investment suggestions from mutual-fund companies, he said.

Last year, many investors were eager to invest in mutual funds and each company was able to sell funds valued at Bt500 million, said Santi.

The 8th Money Expo's activities will be held in six zones.

The financial-service zone, located at Plenary Hall 1-3, will offer a comprehensive range of credit cards, personal credit, home loans, SMEs, auto hire purchase, life insurance and assurance and savings products.

The investment zone, sited at Hall A, will contain capital market services and activities, including the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), securities, mutual funds and listed companies including PTT and its group.

The seminar zone, located in the Ball Room and SET in the City zone at Meeting Rooms 1-4 will showcase exhibitions and seminars to be held by the SET and its group.

A financial fitness and business book-fair zone will incorporate a financial expert team from Bangkok Bank. An SME and shopping zone, located at Zone C, will feature household and premium products.