Stage 2: Hypothesis Verification (May 2002 – January 2003)
The Steering Committee commissioned CSN & Associates Company Limited to
perform a nationwide survey on household and business sectors’ perception and
satisfaction with current financial services. The purpose of the survey was to confirm
which urban and rural customer groups were insufficiently served by financial
institutions and why.2
(Summary of Household and Corporate Survey Results are in
Appendix D and E)
The nationwide survey, which covered 4,800 individuals3
and 1,190
corporations,4
revealed that although both consumers and corporations were well served
by the system in terms of deposits, it was access to credit that posed the most problems.
The survey revealed that 57.7 percent of all consumers, mostly low-income with
income less than 100,000 baht annually, do not have access to formal credit channels,
while 23.4 percent of corporations surveyed, majority of which are small to medium
size enterprises (SMEs), faced similar problems. The survey further revealed that both
consumers and corporations felt that current financial service providers should improve
the pricing of their financial products and services.