Moreover, capitalizing on their extensive network of over 3,000 branches, banks have widened the arrays of services to include distribution of corporate bonds or debentures, unit trusts, IPO shares and other debt instruments. Such efforts pay off with tangible result. Within four years, banks’ ratio of net interest- and non-interest income to average number of employees rose from 0.8 to 2.6 million baht per person per year in 2003. We also witness improvement in the area of customer access. Crowded customers at micro-branches speak volumes for the success of banks’ strategy to approach customers outside their office hours. In response to more sophisticated demand, banks introduced new channels of services such as internet banking and tele-banking to satisfy the technology savvy demands of emerging new generation of customers. These efficiency gains have been achieved without forsaking comprehensive risk management. On the contrary, banks have begun to move away from collateral-based lending to risk-based approach. At the same time, financial literate Board of Directors has bolstered its oversight function to ensure that banks are managed in a sound manner. In the area of credit risk management, credit scoring has been widely applied in the retail loan originating process, whereas internal credit rating models have been used for significant corporate loan portfolios. Moreover, banks also have in place security measures, contingency plans and auditing standards within their system of internal control to monitor reputational risk, strategic risk and other risks.
Thomas Jordan: Monetary policy in times of crisis. Why central banks talk to one another Summary of a speech by Mr Thomas Jordan, Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, at the Energie-Apéro Etavis, Zurich, 14 May 2012. The complete speech can be found in German on the Swiss National Bank’s website  *  *  *  Mandates differ from one central bank to another. So, too, do the economic structures and business cycles of different central bank territories. These factors speak in favour of an autonomous monetary policy for each currency area. This monetary policy autonomy has proved its value for Switzerland – also in the latest crisis. Nevertheless, central banks do work with one another in a number of different ways. They exchange knowledge on a continual basis, thereby helping to improve the foundations upon which their own monetary policy decisions are made. Central banks are also able to access foreign currencies by concluding swap agreements, allowing them to better counteract liquidity shortages on the international money market in times of crisis. Finally, joint measures can have a strong psychological impact since they signal to financial markets and economic agents that the central banks are speaking with a single voice. Autonomy and cooperation are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary. In a crisis, good cooperation supports and reinforces the effects of autonomous monetary policy measures.