Stage 1: Problem Identification and Hypotheses Setting (January – April 2002)
The Steering Committee held several meetings from February to April 2002 to
consider fundamental problems of inadequate financial services for certain segments of
the public. According to the 2001 World Competitiveness Report, Thailand ranked 44th
from 49 countries in terms of credit flows from banks to businesses. This implied that
Thailand had ample room left to enhance its financial competitiveness and improve the
financial sector’s intermediation capability and efficiency.
Moreover, internal studies showed that there were members of the public,
particularly those in the rural area and low-income in both urban and rural area, which
lacked access to basic mainstream banking services. It is believed that success in
closing or lessening these gaps will help expand the financial sector’s customer base,
domestic savings, and lay the groundwork for stable long-term macroeconomic growth.
Financial reliance on commercial bank loans was another key topic addressed
by the Steering Committee. Looking at composition of the private sector’s external
financing between1988-1998, commercial banks in Thailand accounted for over 76
percent of all external funding compared to 21 in the US.1
Although local corporations
have begun to turn towards the capital market as an alternative source of funding,