We have to: −  identify potential unfulfilled need for financial services in the medium term so that we can adequately accommodate needs of our consumers and corporate in the real sector. These include financing of small and medium-sized enterprises as well as long-term financing. −  determine problems, obstacles, and bottlenecks within our financial infrastructures as well as tax issues that will constraint us from achieving our full potential;  −  revisit the existing specified scopes of businesses for each types of financial institutions and determine appropriate structures for our financial conglomerates, taking into consideration the increasingly blurring of traditional lines that have previously separated commercial banking, investment banking, and insurance businesses from one another;  −  prioritize our aims and construct appropriate benchmarks to set clear targets of development and measure our performance;  −  and, of course, re-examine the current regulatory structure once the market reform is already underway. Ladies and Gentlemen You may ask how you can be involved? In the next nine months, our staff will conduct background studies, commission additional research papers, and take inputs from relevant stakeholders through market interviews and focus groups. We invite you to actively participate in our public consultation process and encourage you to take initiatives by making public submission on topics which you feel are critical for the development of our desired financial system.
M R Pridiyathorn Devakula: Commercial Banking and Financial Services - our Vision for Thailand Speech by M R Pridiyathorn Devakula, Governor of the Bank of Thailand, at the Conference on “Modernizing our Financial System: Challenges for the New Millennium”, Bangkok, 23 January 2002. *  *  *  Your Excellencies Distinguished Guests Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all of you to our conference on "Modernizing our Financial System: Challenges for the new Millennium". I would also like to express our deep appreciation for the distinguished speakers who came all the way from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, and South Africa to share with us their expertise and knowledge on this very important topic. And, of course, to the World Bank, our co-host, for help organizing the conference. Our financial crisis in 1997 and its subsequent impacts highlighted the lesson of critical importance that dynamic and strong domestic financial institutions are vital to sustainability of development and growth. Over the past 20 years, financial sector has been one of the major forces that support our progress and financial services share in our GDP has grown from a mere 3 percent to roughly 8 percent. It is the fifth largest industry in term of value added to our GDP, and currently employing more than 300,000 of our workforce. Nevertheless, despite such favorable development, there are some concerns: -  First, in term of competitiveness of our financial institutions, there is room for improvement.