The public information rating on Krung Thai Bank Public Co. Ltd. (KTB) reflects its weak stand-alone credit profile, gripped by a huge overhang of nonperforming assets (which includes loans classified on a three-month overdue basis, restructured loans, and foreclosed properties), weakened operating profitability, and capital constraints. Although the transfer of impaired loans to state-owned Sukhumvit Asset Management Co. (SAMC) has helped to alleviate some pressure on KTB's financial position, considering the still-high re-entry nonperforming loans (NPLs) in the system, the volatile real estate collateral values, and the deepening economic uncertainty, it will take some time for KTB to work out its problem assets. Counterbalancing these sensitivities, however, is the incorporation of government support for KTB, underpinned by its majority government
