Money Expo proves a record-breaker

The figure is well beyond expectations. It is easily the highest for the past eight years and represents a 60-per-cent jump over total transactions at last year's expo.

Organisers say the big total was mainly due to consumers arriving at the expo well prepared to do business, with all of their documents in hand.

Of the transactions, borrowers made applications for mortgages worth a combined Bt93.89 billion in the four-day event, which ended on Sunday. These represented 77 per cent of total transactions.

The mortgage rush was apparently boosted by promotions being offered by banks of zero interest for the first three to nine months of loan maturity. Some banks also offered a lucky draw with a zero mortgage rate for 12 months as first prize.

About 700,000 visitors visited the fair, compared with 650,000 last year, said Santi Viriyarungsarit, editor in chief of Money & Banking magazine, which hosted the expo.

The record number of transactions was much higher than the target of Bt80 billion. The total at the 2007 event was just Bt76 billion.

"The record was due mainly to good preparation by consumers. They came well prepared, particularly with relevant financial documents for borrowing money from banks. They knew that this was the only chance of the year at which banks would offer very good promotions for customers. Some savers also prepared cash to buy financial products for investment at the fair, including mutual funds and insurance," Santi said.

Mortgages were the most popular product because of promotions and because of high demand from home-buyers following tax incentives offered by the government, he said.

The second most popular products were loans for small- and medium-sized enterprises, transactions for which totalled Bt20.83 billion, or 17 per cent of the total. The third most popular were savings certificates, which totalled about Bt1.34 billion.