Painful experiences in handling bad debts and poor credit management in the past led to the setting up of a Credit Bureau to share credit information about clients.The Credit Bureau Act became effective in March 2003.The Act aims to enhance information sharing among financial institutions in order to improve loan analysis and credit risk management. Simultaneously,the Act protects the owners'right regarding the accuracy and disclosure of their information. At first, two licenses were granted to operate the credit information business,namely,to the Thai Credit Bureau and the Central Credit Information Services.In August 2004,the two entities merged and became National Credit Bureau Co,Ltd.
A series of debt restructuring,improved supervision and information sharing via the Credit Bureau led to improved asset quality and financial performance of financial institutions.Net profit turned positive in 2002-2004 after net loss in 1997-2001.Figure 3 shows more profitability and efficiency of Thai commercial banks.by 2005 their return on asset moved up to the same level as the period before the crisis (i.e. 1.3% in 2005 versus 1.3% in 1991-1996).Although the improved macroeconomic climate after economic recovery from the crisis is obviously a factor, internal improvements within the financial sector are considered to be more important for the improved performance and a sustainable recovery of the financial sector.