December 6,2006
-
Thailand's Credit Card Market is Saturated
It's bad news this week for credit card companies in Thailand, who saw only a piddling increase in number of new accounts opened over last quarter. Thanks to sluggish market growth and stricter rules on opening new accounts, the issuance of new cards has slowed almost to a standstill.
The Bank of Thailand recently set a rule that applicants for credit cards must have a monthly salary of no less than 15,000 baht – a rule that has sharply cut the pool of potential applicants.
Although credit card sales are expected to rebound slightly in the historically brisk fourth quarter, experts predict that holiday sales will be lackluster this year.