Panern Intara

Savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs) are crucial institutions in promoting financial accessibility. SACCOs provide financial loans to individuals who may not have access to traditional banking. SACCOs take their own risk to get loan defaults from the offerings because member loans are approved without checking the members’ credit background by SACCO committees. This study aims to investigate factors influencing loan defaults of savings and credit cooperatives in Thailand. Based on the savings and credits cooperative database in November 2023, the cooperative has emergency loans, regular loans, and special loans totaling 11,441 contracts. In this study, all loan contracts of this cooperative were used to analyze. The data were divided into two categories of debt classification, including (1) non-default status and (2) default status. The data were analyzed using logistics regression to select the highest accuracy model. Furthermore, the finding reveals that the highest accuracy model, at 99.78%, contains five variables, including interest rate, collateral value, remaining contract duration, outstanding debt, and installment amount. The savings and credit cooperatives institution should adjust the loan interest rates according to economic conditions. Moreover, closely monitoring members with high remaining debt would help the institution prevent loan defaults, and the institution should also create a conservative loan approval policy to reduce its loan default.

Acknowledgments
The research for the work featured in this article is funded by the Prince of Songkla Savings and Credit Cooperatives, Limited.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
The service industry sector is crucial to Thailand’s employment and economic development. The firm value and sustainable growth of firms in this industry inevitably have a beneficial impact on the country. This study investigates the impact of capital structure and financial distress on sustainable growth and firm value among listed companies in Thailand’s service sector. Using unbalanced panel data from 133 firms listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, the analysis encompasses 1,117 firm-year observations spanning the period from 2014 to 2023. Data were sourced from the SETSMART database of the Stock Exchange of Thailand. The empirical findings indicate that capital structure, measured by debt to equity ratio, demonstrates a significant negative influence on both sustainable growth (β = –1.8600, p < 0.05) and firm value (β = –1.7600, p < 0.05), suggesting that excessive leverage undermines long-term performance, while financial distress, as captured by the Z-score, shows positive impact on both sustainable growth (β = 1.1253, p < 0.01) and firm value (β = 0.1578, p < 0.01), indicating that reduced financial distress enhances corporate outcomes. These findings underscore important managerial implications. Service firms should optimize capital structure through balanced debt-equity ratios. Proactive financial distress management is crucial for sustaining growth. This study contributes to the corporate finance literature in emerging markets by empirically validating capital structure theories in Thailand’s unique service sector context while providing practical guidance for financial decision-making.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Corporate governance plays a crucial role in promoting sustainability by guiding firms toward responsible management that balance growth and accountability. This study examines the impact of corporate governance on sustainable growth of firms in the Thailand Sustainability Investment list and investigates whether the Stock Exchange of Thailand Sustainability Awards moderate this relationship. The analysis utilizes secondary panel data from 183 companies, comprising 778 firm-year observations from 2015 to 2022, sourced from the SETSMART database. The study considers board size, board independence, director shareholding, CEO duality, board meeting frequency, and the presence of risk committee as independent variables, with sustainable growth as the dependent variable. The multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the hypotheses. Empirical results reveal that board size (β = 1.3607, p < 0.05), independent directors (β = 2.1223, p < 0.01), executive shareholding (β = 0.0456, p < 0.10), and the presence of a risk committee (β = 0.1339, p < 0.10) positively affect sustainable growth, while CEO duality has a significant negative impact (β = –1.2335, p < 0.10). Furthermore, the Stock Exchange of Thailand Sustainability Awards played a moderating role, as its interaction with board size (β = 1.2307, p < 0.10) and independent directors (β = 1.3123, p < 0.05) strengthens their positive effects. These findings suggest that effective governance enhances sustainable growth, and sustainability awards amplify this influence among Thai listed firms. The study offers implications for regulators to foster governance frameworks and award programs supporting sustainable growth.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
Thailand’s green bond market is expanding but remains less developed than in advanced economies, raising questions about issuance patterns and whether return–risk conditions support broader market growth. This study aims to analyze issuance dynamics in Thailand’s green bond market, evaluate return and risk performance, assess the relationship between return, risk, and issuance volume, and classify green bonds based on their risk characteristics. The sample included 62 green bonds registered with the Thai Bond Market Association (ThaiBMA) during 2019–2025. Descriptive statistics are used to summarize issuance and performance indicators; return measures include current yield, yield to maturity, holding period return, and annual percentage rate; risk is assessed using seven variables capturing default, liquidity, interest rate, inflation, and reinvestment risks, and hierarchical clustering is applied to classify bonds by risk level. Results show that private-sector issuers dominate the market, accounting for 79% of outstanding green bond value (103.216 billion baht), followed by state-owned enterprises (12%) and foreign issuers (9%). Current yield ranges from 1.62% to 5.55% (mean 3.40%), while yield to maturity ranges from 1.75% to 8.86% (mean 3.20%). Credit spreads range from 0.41% to 3.49% (mean 1.46%), and duration ranges from 0.019 to 10.07 years (mean 3.35), indicating generally moderate risk conditions. SEM analysis further reveals a significant positive relationship between risk and return, while issuance volume is not significantly related to either factor. Cluster analysis identifies four distinct risk groups – low, medium, high, and highest – offering a practical risk classification for investors and policymakers to support sustainable finance development in Thailand.

Type of the article: Research Article

This study addresses the critical role of investment efficiency in improving firm performance and firm value in emerging markets, where corporate governance mechanisms remain uneven across firms. Despite extensive research on the determinants of investment efficiency, limited evidence exists on its economic consequences and the conditions under which its benefits are maximized. Therefore, this study aims to examine the impact of investment efficiency on firm performance and firm value, and to investigate the moderating role of corporate governance quality. This study uses panel data from 193 non-financial firms listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand over the period 2017–2022, covering 1,206 firm-year observations. Investment efficiency is measured based on deviations from an optimal investment level, while firm performance and firm value are proxied by return on assets, return on equity, and Tobin’s Q. Corporate governance quality is measured using Refinitiv governance scores. To address endogeneity, the generalized method of moments is applied. The results indicate that investment efficiency is positively associated with firm performance and firm value. Specifically, investment efficiency significantly improves ROA (β = 0.0035, p < 0.01) and Tobin’s Q (β = 0.0046, p < 0.01). Moreover, corporate governance strengthens these relationships, as shown by the positive interaction between investment efficiency and governance quality for ROA (β = 0.0167, p < 0.01) and firm value (β = 0.0419, p < 0.01). These findings suggest that effective corporate governance enhances the value-creating impact of efficient investment, highlighting the importance of governance in improving firm outcomes in emerging markets.