The government plans to regulate the fast-growing business of hire purchase and leasing of cars and motorcycles to maintain financial stability and protect consumers, the central bank said on Monday.
The business has grown 5.5% on average between 2017 and 2021, with outstanding transactions at the end of last year amounting to 1.8 trillion baht ($50.78 billion), or 12.3% of total household debt, the bank said in a statement.
About a third of the transactions were conducted by non-financial firms which do not yet have clear regulations and there have been rising public complaints about the sector, the Bank of Thailand (BoT) said without elaborating.
