THAI BANKS IDENTIFY CHALLENGES IN CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY.

Thai Banks Identify Challenges in Corporate Responsibility. At a November corporate responsibility conference in Thailand, PriceWaterhouseCoopers stressed that social responsibility is an important
part of corporate governance, and that mismanaging social issues could pose real risks if products are rejected by importing countries, or people become
more aware and active on health and environmental issues. A representative of Thai Farmers Bank, said local banks, private firms executives and
regulators were still reluctant to reform corporate governance, particularly in the social responsibility area. He cited a case where bankers lent funds
to help manufacturers build a wastewater treatment facility, the manufacturers did build one but did not turn it on. He also spoke of cronyism between the board of directors and top executives of banks or
firms: board directors sitting on banks usually were the banks debtors, so a conflict of interest prevailed as board directors wanted to protect their businesses but did not care much about the banks business. The Board's lack of supervision over managers was one of the problems leading to financial crisis in 1997. ("Firms Must be Socially Responsible," The Nation -
Thailand, November 23, 2001)