Distorted policies and actions aimed at political or personal monetary gains can limit the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Despite years of anticorruption campaigns, Thailand’s level of corruption has been largely unchanged3. In addition, practices in the financial sector have also been the culprits of corruption. Insider trading, market manipulation, money laundering, favoritism in credit decision, and misselling of products are just some of the corruptive practices that have led regulators, including the Bank of Thailand, to tighten our code of conduct and market conduct supervision. Ultimately, these challenges are byproducts of actions taken without regard for moderation, responsibility, and long-term consequences, and they should serve as a wake-up call for all of us. For without a proper remedy, we would be transferring unfair burden to future generations, thus impairing long-term sustainability and prosperity. How did we allow these challenges to get out of hand? That is because we take for granted that someone else will step up to resolve them when in fact they are our collective problems and our collective responsibilities to take action. 3  Thailand’s Corruption Perception Index has a narrow score range of 35 to 38 between 2012 and 2017. Transparency International, 2018. 4/6  Ladies and gentlemen, Our financial sector can take the lead in making impactful changes with regard to sustainability as all of us play key roles in allocating one of the most important resources—that is the financial resources. As stated earlier, a number of welcoming developments are taking place in our financial sector.

But, much more can be done and need to be done to foster an ecosystem that promotes the overall sustainability—that will discourage misallocation of resources, limit corruptive practices, and help preserve our environment. Adoption of best practices in sustainability is not just about making positive impacts to our society, but it can also be beneficial to financial institutions in a number of ways. First, it can help ensure long-term sustainability of financial institutions themselves. Growing acceptance of sustainability practices globally has encouraged new standards and practices and raised the expectation of our society. Early adopters of sustainability practices can meet society’s ever-increasing expectation; take lead in setting new industry standards; and make timely and necessary adjustment to their business models. These sustainability practices will help financial institutions mitigate strategic, operational, and reputational risks. Second, financial institutions can better attract and retain a new generation of talents, especially the millennials, who are increasingly more attracted to firms with sustainability and philanthropic practices4. This is no surprise because these young individuals are becoming more concerned of sustainability issues and want to take part in making positive impacts. Therefore, firms with strong sustainability values and practices can attract these talents by offering the additional satisfaction beyond remuneration benefits. Third, adoption of sustainability can help financial institutions gain access to increasing pool of capitals, given the increasing volume of funds and investment products based on sustainability 4  The 2017 Millennial Impact Report. The Millennial Impact Project, 2017. 5/6  criteria.