Opening Remarks Bangkok Sustainable Banking Forum 2018 Veerathai Santiprabhob, Governor of the Bank of Thailand Monday, 23 July 2018 Distinguished guests, Ladies and gentlemen, A very good morning to you all. I am delighted to welcome all of you to the Bank of Thailand for our very first Bangkok Sustainable Banking Forum. This forum aims to enhance greater awareness of sustainability practice in finance by bringing together leaders in the area of sustainability, showcasing best practices and efforts taken by participants from the financial sector, and identifying areas we can improve. This event is a part of a series of conferences organized throughout this year to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Bank of Thailand. Ladies and gentlemen, In 1987 the United Nations first defined sustainability or sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs1.” Since then, this concept has served as a guiding principle for various long-term global development agendas. Yet, the principal ideas of sustainability, especially of moderation, responsibility and maintaining long-term focus, hardly takes the center stage in popular media, most notably in the economic and financial headlines—where we often focus our narratives on shortterm indicators, like GDP growth, shareholders’ earnings, stock prices, or bonus paychecks. Whatever it takes today to maximize these short-term indicators is believed to be the best course of action. We often forget that our short-sighted actions also dictate and impact the path for our long-term development and well-being.

It is estimated that more than a quarter of assets under management globally are now invested using the Environment, Social, and Governance or ESG principles5. Ladies and gentlemen, It is now up to all of us—financial institutions, policymakers, and leaders—to embrace sustainability and incorporate its guiding principles in our daily lives and business practices. The objective of the Bangkok Sustainable Banking Forum is to raise awareness of the various issues of sustainability and identify gaps within our financial sector. Seeing much enthusiasm from our high-level participants this morning, I am certain we can make positive changes for our future generations. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to be here with us. I would also like to thank the speakers, some of whom have traveled from different parts of the globe, for being here to share to with us their insights and best practices. Let me, once again, urge all of us to think wisely, maintain longterm focus, and take responsible actions now so that in the next decade we would not be standing here asking ourselves again how we have allowed these challenges to get out of hand. Ladies and gentlemen, The Bank of Thailand looks forward to collaborating with all of you on our sustainability journey. Thank you very much for your participation. 5  Bernow, Sara, Klempner, Bryce, Magnin, Clarisse. “From ‘why’ to ‘why not’: Sustainable investing as the new normal.” McKinsey and Company, October 2017. 6/6