(3) Interest Rates and Fees Calculation
In response to recommendations made by prominent economists and
comments from the nationwide survey, the Bank of Thailand issued a notification on
August 4, 2005 that established uniform standard for commercial banks to publish
their deposit interest rate, effective interest rate for commercial and consumer loans,
together with the fees and expenses associate with credit extensions.16
The benefit of this notification is the fact that with uniform calculation
standard, consumers will be able to perform price comparison across different
financial institutions. To make things even more convenient, the Bank of Thailand is
in the process of developing ways to publicize the deposit and lending interest rates of
each commercial bank on the Bank of Thailand’s website. In the near future, the Bank
of Thailand hopes to expand this concept to cover material fees charged by
commercial banks.