III. VISION 3: MEASURES TO IMPROVE CONSUMER PROTECTION
(1) Customer Complaint Procedures
The Bank of Thailand has continuously supported customer protection policy
through encouraging financial institutions to maintain clear procedures for handling
customer complaints. This also includes the promotion of transparent information
disclosure in line with international standard.
(2) Retail Deposit Protection
The government announced the abolishment of its guarantee for creditors of
financial institutions since November 16, 2003. This was done to support the
development of long-term domestic financial market and in line with the phasing out f the blanket guarantee. In place of the blanket guarantee will be the Deposit
Insurance Agency (DIA) Act that will cap the level of government guarantee to no
greater than 1 million baht per individual depositor account per bank. Although the
level of protection has decreased, the scheme still covers around 98.6 percent of the
total number of retail deposit accounts in Thailand, but with the added benefit of
curtailing moral hazard and strengthening market discipline.
Currently, the draft DPA is under final consideration by the Office of the
Council of State. Upon completion, the Office of the Council of State will forward the
draft DPA to the Ministry of Finance who will submit it for approval by the Council
of Ministers. Once endorsed by the Council of Ministers, the draft DPA will be tabled
to Parliament in accordance with legal procedures.