Mr. Payong Srivanich, the President of Krung Thai Bank Public Company Limited (KTB), revealed that the bank's performance in the first quarter of 2020 showed a net profit attributable to the bank of 6.082 billion baht, a decrease of 16.7% compared to the same period last year. The main reason for this decline was the reduction in net interest income, despite a 1.9% growth in loans from the end of the previous year and a 4.7% increase compared to the same period last year, along with effective financial cost management.

Additionally, the bank benefited from a reduction in contributions to the rehabilitation fund, which helped mitigate the impact of four policy interest rate cuts and the reduction in loan interest rates to alleviate customer hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This also included the absence of interest income from loans related to the sale of collateralized assets amounting to 3.899 billion baht last year, with a Net Interest Margin (NIM) at 3.17%.

At the same time, the bank's expenses decreased by 16.9% compared to the same period last year, which had expenses from losses on impairment of assets held for sale, resulting in a Cost to Income ratio of 44.2%, down from 48.2% in the same period of 2019. However, in this quarter, the ratio of non-performing loans to total loans stood at 4.36%. Furthermore, the bank set aside provisions for expected credit losses amounting to 8.524 billion baht, with a Coverage Ratio of 126.5%.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a global impact and has slowed down the Thai economy. The government, the Ministry of Finance, and the Bank of Thailand (BoT) have implemented measures to assist businesses and the public. The bank has introduced various measures to support all customer segments, including reducing loan interest rates, providing low-interest loans to enhance liquidity, and allowing a six-month deferment of principal and interest payments.