However, there were delays in initiating some of the announced restructuring measures. The magnitude of the problems, along with interagency issues of co-ordination and political problems, all took time to resolve, delaying the implementation of necessary policies. An asset management company was established in October to deal with assets of the 58 finance companies that had their operations suspended. By December 1997, the permanent closure of 56 finance companies was announced; only two companies were allowed to reopen. Immediately after the closure, the focus of the FRA shifted to managing their assets, in order to prevent a further deterioration in asset quality prior to disposition.
Banking sector issues
Initial crisis resolution had focused on finance companies,but it soon became clear that banks also faced problems and that the public had started to loose confidence in the banks. Banks’s asset quality was deteriorating, and many banks experienced deposit withdrawals and reduced rollover rates for external credit lines. Bank of Thailand data show that, as of the end of June 1997, all banks had a capital shortfall that amounted to 400 billion bath.
On 14 October 1997, the Thai authorities announced their strategy for dealing with the banking sector:
-All banks were required to write down and then increase capital in order to absorb the losses that had already occurred.
-None of the banks was allowed to pay dividends for the remaining part of 1997 or during 1998
-Banks were required to present re-capitalisation plans to the BOT, and the requested capital would have to be injected at the latest during the first quarter of 1998
-Banks were encouraged to try to find foreign partners since it was unlikely they could raise all the capital needed in Thailand.
-For banks that could not raise the capital, losses would be written off against capital, ensuring that existing shareholders lose their stake. The FIDF would take control of the banks, re-capitalise them and later privatize them or merge them with another bank.
The BOT was initially reluctant to intervene in banks since it feared that interventions could cause a run on the whole banking system. But with the October 1997 amendments to the Commercial Banking Act. The BOT was given specific power to write down capital and change management on troubled commercial banks. On 31 December 1997, the BOT intervened in a medium-sized bank, Bangkok Metropolitan Bank, where management was changed. In the following month, the BOT intervened in two more banks (First Bangkok City Bank and Siam City Bank), that together with the former represented 10 percent of the banking system’s deposits. In mid-May, the BOT intervened in seven finance companies, thereby becoming the owner of six banks and nine finance companies, which accounted for one-third of total deposits.