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**Table 4. Overview of Financial Sector Liberalization Measures**

|**Date**|**Interest Rate Controls**|
|---|---|
|1987|Removal of separate interest rate ceiling for lending to priority sectors.|
|1989|<br>Removal of interest rate ceiling on time deposits of commercial banks with maturity > I year.|
|1990|Removal of interest rate ceiling on time deposits of commercial banks with maturity < 1 year.|
|1991/January|Removal of interest rate ceiling on savings deposits at commercial banks.|
|1991/June|Removal of interest rate ceiling on finance companies' and credit foncier companies' borrowing,<br>deposits and lending.|
|1991/June|Removal of interest rate ceiling on commercial bank lending.|
|1993/Oct|Commercial Banks required to announce Minimum Retail Rate calculated from actual costs of<br>deposits and operating costs as reference lending rates for retail prime borrower.|
||**Controls on Finance Companies' Funding Side**|
|1990|Removal of requirement on minimum denomination of promissory notes that finance companies<br>can issue.|
|1992|Receive pernission to issue certificates of deposits.|
|1995|Receive permission to issue bills of exchange or certificates of deposits denominated in foreign<br>currencies, with maturity of over one year, to overseas investors or commercial banks authorized to<br>undertake foreign exchange transactions.|
||**Controls on Portfolio Composition**|
|1991|Broadening definition of "targeted rural credits" under the rural credit requirement to include<br>credits for crop wholesaling and industrial estates in rural areas.|
|1992/Jan|Further relaxation of rural credit requirement via:|
||<br>i. broadening definition to include credits for farmers' secondary occupation, and<br>credits for agricultural product wholesaling and exporting;<br>ii. changing small industry definition from 5 million Baht net assets<br>outstanding to 10 million Baht;|
||iii. excluding interbank deposits from deposit base under rural credit.|
||**Expanding the Scope of Activities of Finance Companies/Commercial Banks**|
|1987|<br>List of authorized business for commercial banks and finance companies was broadened to include:<br>i. custodial services;<br>ii. loan syndication;|
||iii. advisory services regarding mergers and acquisition;<br>iv. feasibility studies.|
|1992/March|<br>- _Commercial banks_allowed to operate as:<br>i. selling agents for debt instruments issued by the government and state enterprises;<br>ii. information service;<br>iii. financial consulting service.<br>_- Finance companies_allowed to operate as:<br>i. selling agents for debt instruments issued by the government and state enterprises;<br>ii. information services;|
||iii. sponsoring services, preparing necessary documents for companies applying for listing on SET.<br>_- Securities companies_allowed to operate:<br>i. custodial service;<br>ii. registrar and paying agents for securities;<br>iii. information service;|
||iv. sponsoring service.|
|1992/June|<br>Allowing comrnercial banks to operate the following business:<br>i. arranging, underwriting and dealing in debt instruments;<br>ii. secured debenture holder representative;<br>iii. trustee o:Fmutual funds;<br>iv. securities registrar;|
||v. selling agents for investment units.|
|1994/Sept<br>_Source:_Bank of Tha|Allowing commercial banks to invest in any business, or in its shares, of not more than 10 percent<br>of the total amount of shares sold.<br>iland, Financial Institutions and Markets in Thailand, 1998.|