Government Savings Bank (GSB) is set to launch a non-bank business to offer digital personal loans and digital nano-finance services in the third quarter of this year, with a view to pushing down interest rates in the market for both services by 5%, said president Vitai Ratanakorn.
At present, the ceilings of personal loan and nano-finance rates stand at 25% and 33%, respectively.
Mr Vitai said the GSB board of directors had approved the plan to launch the non-bank business, which is applying for a licence from the Bank of Thailand.
The digital personal loan service is aimed at serving freelancers who cannot access financial institutions' loans due to their lack of a substantial income or evidence of their financial standing, he said.
The nano-finance services would tap small merchants, he said.
Mr Vitai said that, in future, those who are not qualified to apply for a GSB loan could instead opt to request a GSB digital loan.
He said the GSB digital personal loan would not compete with the existing GSB lending business as they tap different market segments. The digital loan business would focus on tapping the high-risk customer segment, he added.
Mr Vitai said GSB would own 49% of the non-bank business, while the remaining 51% would be held by its subsidiary Mee Tee Mee Ngern.
GSB owns 49% of Mee Tee Mee Ngern. This means GSB would have a combined direct and indirect stake of more than 80% in the non-bank business, Mr Vitai added.
The firm entered the car title loan business in 2020 by acquiring a 49% stake in Fast Money Co, with the aim of pushing down the interest rate for the service.
