The Government Housing Bank (GHB) has announced its performance for the year 2020, demonstrating strong growth and continuously creating opportunities for Thai people to own homes despite the challenges posed by COVID-19. In 2021, GHB will continue with the core concept of "Be Simple, Make it Simple" to make home ownership more accessible for Thais, aiming for a 3% increase in new loans under the strategy of enhancing banking services to a Digital Service Bank.

Mr. Chatchai Sirilai, Managing Director of the Government Housing Bank (GHB), revealed the bank's performance in 2020 compared to the end of 2019. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the overall Thai economy, GHB was still able to create opportunities for Thai people to own homes, achieving the highest amount of new loans in 67 years since the bank's establishment, totaling 225.151 billion baht across 140,386 accounts, an increase of 4.57%, exceeding the target by 15.791 billion baht.

Of this, new loans for low- and middle-income earners with a loan limit of up to 2 million baht accounted for 88,007 accounts, resulting in total outstanding loans of 1,320.308 billion baht, an increase of 9.18%. The bank's total assets reached 1,399.138 billion baht, up 12.41%, and total deposits were 1,162.687 billion baht, an increase of 17%.

Additionally, non-performing loans (NPL) amounted to 47.572 billion baht, representing 3.60% of total loans, down from 4.09% in 2019. This reduction is attributed to the bank's customer assistance measures in response to COVID-19, in line with government and Bank of Thailand policies, which have been implemented continuously since early 2020, resulting in a lower NPL rate.

           In 2020, GHB assisted customers through 10 measures, impacting a maximum of 687,489 accounts with outstanding principal of 576.139 billion baht. At the same time, the bank has gradually increased its provisions for doubtful debts to prepare for future impacts from COVID-19 and to comply with TFRS 9 standards, amounting to 96.456 billion baht, an increase of 11.18%, which corresponds to 202.76% of NPL, reflecting the bank's strength and readiness to handle future impacts from COVID-19. However, in 2020, the bank reported a net profit of 10.494 billion baht, down 2.858 billion baht or 21.41% from the previous year due to reduced interest rates to assist customers, while the capital adequacy ratio (BIS Ratio) remained strong at 15.30% (as of November 2020), exceeding the minimum capital requirement set by the Bank of Thailand.

“A key factor that allowed the bank to exceed its lending targets despite the COVID-19 pandemic last year was GHB's use of funds from the sale of savings lottery tickets to offer loan products with lower interest rates that meet the needs of various customer professions. This includes products in the Social Solution category for low-income earners, such as GHB's housing loan measures, which had approvals and legal transactions totaling 28.540 billion baht, and the GHB 'We Won't Leave Anyone Behind' project at 28.900 billion baht. Meanwhile, in the Business Solution category for middle-income earners and above, the product with the highest approvals and legal transactions was the D Plus loan in Q3-Q4, totaling 21.970 billion baht, along with support from measures to reduce transfer and mortgage fees to 0.01% for residential transactions priced at up to 3 million baht and promotional campaigns to stimulate sales for real estate developers.”

For 2021, GHB will continue with the core concept of “Be Simple, Make it Simple” to make home ownership more accessible for Thais, in line with the mission of “making Thai people have homes.” The bank plans to issue a new series of savings lottery tickets to create low-interest loan products, aiming for new loans of 215.641 billion baht, a 3% increase from the 2020 target, with outstanding loans at 1,374.116 billion baht, under the key strategy of continuing to elevate banking services to a Digital Service Bank in 2021.

GHB aims to fully transition to a Digital Bank by 2023, following the "3-Step Ladder" roadmap, by moving core services such as loans and deposits to a digital platform, allowing customers to access services without visiting branches. The goal is to reduce counter transactions at branches to 5% of total transactions, while electronic transactions, such as loan payment kiosks (LRM) or QR Non-Cash Payments at branches, should account for 15%, and transactions through the GHB ALL application should reach 80% by 2022.

Currently, the bank is developing the GHB New Normal Services project in Phase 3, scheduled to launch in March 2021, and is advancing the Virtual Branch project, which allows customers to receive services as if they were at a branch without needing to travel, officially starting on January 13, 2021, with a target of new loans through the project amounting to 10 billion baht.

At the same time, the bank is also prioritizing customer support for those affected by income issues due to COVID-19 through the “GHB Together, Build the Nation 2021” project, with 4 measures to reduce installment payments (the payments will deduct both principal and interest) for a maximum of 6 months. The first registration period for customers to express their interest in the measures began on January 15, 2021. As of January 28, 2021, at 24:00, over 102,000 accounts had registered for the measures, with outstanding principal of 95 billion baht for customers who had never participated in GHB's assistance measures.

    The bank will open registration for the 11th measure through the GHB ALL application from February 1, 2021, at 9:00 AM to February 26, 2021, at 10:00 PM, to reduce installment payments (the payments will deduct both principal and interest) for a period of 6 months (February-July 2021). For more details, customers can inquire at GHB branches nationwide or contact the Customer Relations Center (Call Center) at 0-2645-9000 and the Government Housing Bank Facebook Fanpage.