Summary · why it matters
Land and Houses Bank, or LH Bank, has confirmed that news reports concerning Mr. Anant Asavabhokin have no impact on its management or business direction, as Mr. Anant has not been involved in the bank's management for a long time. The shareholding structure is held through Land and Houses Public Company Limited, which holds a 30% stake in LH Financial Group, or LHFG. For this year's strategy, the bank still targets total loan growth of 10 to 12%, focusing on SME loans, retail loans, and home loans, while expanding its International Business, which is expected to grow by about 50%, driven by foreign direct investment, especially from high-tech industries in China and Taiwan relocating production bases to Thailand. In the first half of the year, the bank expanded its International Business by 27%, with main customers being entrepreneurs in electronic components, AI, and electronic circuit board industries. Many projects have completed factory construction and are entering production and export phases, leading to continued growth in demand for financial services such as international business loans, foreign exchange transactions, and trade finance. Fee income continues to be supported by financial transactions, sales of mutual funds investing in foreign technology sectors, and bancassurance. Meanwhile, income from foreign exchange transactions is also boosted by the expanding base of import and export customers amid baht volatility. For net interest margin, or NIM, the bank expects the policy interest rate to remain stable throughout the year and will continue to manage financial costs while increasing the proportion of high-yield loans to improve NIM in the second half, particularly in SME and retail loans. Regarding asset quality, the non-performing loan ratio, or NPL, stands at 2.56%, a slight increase due to pressure in the SME segment affected by economic conditions and higher operating costs. However, the bank expects provisioning in the second half to remain at a similar level or decline slightly after careful loan portfolio management. In addition, LH Bank targets sustainable loan issuance of 6 billion baht this year, having already achieved about 5.8 billion baht, and sets a long-term goal to increase the sustainable loan portfolio to 30 billion baht within five years to support businesses investing in machinery efficiency and greenhouse gas emission reduction. To support SMEs, the bank uses the FLY program to analyze industry potential for faster loan approvals, along with credit guarantee mechanisms from the Thai Credit Guarantee Corporation, or TCG, to help manage risk and increase access to funding for small entrepreneurs. As for the baht direction in the third quarter, the bank assesses that it may weaken due to high oil prices, the low tourism season, and the interest rate differential between Thailand and the United States. However, the baht is expected to strengthen towards the end of the year, supported by the high tourism season and stronger economic activity.
LH Financial Group Public Company Limited
Land and Houses Public Company Limited