The state-owned Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) is accelerating efforts to mobilise deposits, aiming to meet a growth target of 57 billion baht for its financial year after deposits declined by 13 billion during April to October.
The bank is confident the target can be reached from the variety of deposit products, including Taweechoke Money Savings, which offers interest and a lucky draw for account holders, and the Taweesuk Fund, which features deposits and accident insurance, said Kasarb Ngernruang, executive vice-president of BAAC.
As of Oct 21, the state-backed farm bank saw total deposits decline by 13 billion baht for the financial year starting in April.
The drop in deposits is a seasonal factor as deposits from state agencies always decline at the end of every fiscal year, he said.
The bank's financial year starts from April 1 and ends on March 31 of the following year, while the fiscal year runs from Oct 1 to Sept 30.
The BAAC's total deposits amounted to 1.53 trillion baht at the end of March and the deposits stood at 1.52 trillion baht as of Oct 21.
The bank has made steep cuts to the new-loan target for this financial year to 250 billion baht from 750 billion baht earlier in anticipation of declining loan demand after the government approved in principle the extension of debt repayment and lower lending rates for small-scale farmers. The BAAC still aims to raise outstanding loans by 7% or 93 billion baht this financial year.
Mr Kasarb said the bank is offering a special deposits scheme, which gives a step-up interest rate with monthly interest payments during national savings week, which runs until Nov 4.
The product, aimed at cultivating savings behaviour, has two maturity options -- 16 months with an average interest rate of 1.7% per year and 21 months with an average interest rate of 1.85% per year.
He said farmers' deposit accounts made up 12% of the bank's total deposits as of Oct 21, up a percentage point from last financial year.
