Thailand Financial Institutions

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1. Introduction

Thailand is an emerging Southeast Asian financial market, comprising an increasingly perfecting network of markets and institutions, which provide a relatively wide range of financial products and services towards domestic and international investors. Thailand financial system, since established in 1940 [1], has experienced the cautious and pragmatic management period in 1960-1970s, the financial liberalization period in late 1980s and early 1990s [2] and the restructuring period after1997 Asia Financial Crisis [3]. Since 2008 financial crisis, Thailand Government implements the Financial Sector Master Plan Phase II to improve the stability, fairness, openness and competitiveness of financial sector.

The Thailand financial institutions (FIs) could generally be divided into three categories – respectively the commercial banks, the specialized financial institutions (SFIs) and the non-banking financial institutions. The FIs in Thailand are well-defined functions and clear division of work. Thailand domestic commercial FIs mainly engage in the activities of corporate bonds, the small and medium-sized (SMEs) loans and other individual consumer loans, while the foreign banks invest in foreign exchange and derivatives. And SFIs work as the conductor of the special project based on the government policy.

2. Regulation of Financial Institutions

The regulatory system is being completed with the development of Thailand financial system reforms over these years. The principle regulator of the Thailand financial markets is the Bank of Thailand (BOT), the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Office of the Insurance Commission (OIC) and the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

 The BOT was established in 1942 and empowere...

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...1 (2008, FIBA), see:
[9] [10] BOT (The Bank of Thailand) Press Release, “License for New Foreign Commercial Bank to Operate in Thailand in accordance with the Financial Sector Master Plan Phase II”, No.29/2013.
[11] Thailand. Deposit Protection Agency Act, B.E. 2551 (2008)
[12] The Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC).
[13] The Bangkok Bank. Annual Report 2012. Page 80.
[14] The Export-Import Bank of Thailand.

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