so that minority shareholders are better represented on the board. audit committees are now a requirement and many banks now have nomination and compensation committees to reduce the power of the major shareholders. most also have risk management committee or, at least, asset and liability management committee. to further increase transparency, commercial banks now have to announce at the end of each month their npl level, penalties and fines imposed by the authorities, as well as the amount of their related lending. by year - end, we will launch the director's handbook for the financial community and further encouraging increased transparency of appointment and compensations. of course, we cannot change others without changing ourselves at the bank of thailand. our reorganization strategy focuses on four aspects, namely organizational structure and work process, human resource management, decision - making process, and database and information technology. our hierarchical structure has now been reduced from a total of seven layers to four. authorities and responsibilities are being further delegated toward a lower level to the operating officers in charge. this helps reduce the previously lengthy approval process and increase our flexibility. new departments have been established to better cope with the rapidly changing economy and the rising information need of the organization. these include the data management group, the information and public relation group, the planning group who conducts a bank - wide risk assessment as well as a new department of risk management and information technology examination, who monitor risk profile and risk management at the financial institutions. in addition, our business processes are now more client - oriented with a new website, new voice - mail, and new central point of contacts being offered as services to our stakeholders. both the netherlands and thailand are small open economies in the world market. to survive the tide of globalization, we both need a well thought out strategies. we have to choose our battleground and cooperate with friends around the world. to do this, local strength has to be further strengthened while lessons and technologies must be learnt from others. here, international co - operations through jointed ventures, through foreign direct investment, or through international trade will play major roles in our successes. on this front, thailand has done remarkably well, registering a substantial increase in net inflow of foreign direct investment in the four years following the crisis despite the overall net capital outflow due to debt repayment within the banking sector. foreign direct investment ( to the non - bank sector ) increased from an average around 1. 4 billion us dollars during 1992 - 1996 to 3. 4 billion us dollars during 1997 - 2000

m r chatu mongol sonakul : corporate challenges in the new millennium speech by m r chatu mongol sonakul, governor of the bank of thailand, at the annual business awards gala dinner of the netherlands - thai chamber of commerce held in bangkok, 17 may 2001. * * * your excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, first, let me thank mr. jan de kam, president of the netherlands - thai chamber of commerce for inviting me to give the keynote address for this annual business awards gala dinner, an occasion that exemplifies the co - operative relationship between the netherlands and thailand that dated back through time since 1602. at the time, the dutch east india company had already begun trading with the southern part of siam through their main trading station in batavia, indonesia. several years later, it opened its ayutthaya trading post and became very influential during the reign of king prasat - thong. and indeed, one of the best historical accounts of the ayutthaya dynasty was written by a director of the dutch east india company in siam, mr. jeremias van vliet. now in 2001, our co - operative relationship continues. many prominent corporations of the netherlands remain their presence in thailand, including philips, shell ( royal dutch ), unilever, heineken, and abn amro, only to name a few. by now, it is generally accepted that the tide of globalization is here to stay. so, we must heartily embrace the process and take the best opportunities offered by the integration of the global communities while limit the potential adverse consequences that come along with the process. to do this, we must reexamine ourselves to review our weaknesses and our strengths. after all, there was an old chinese saying : " if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. if you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. if you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. " thailand learned her first - hand lessons the hard way and had opportunities to reexamine herself in detail in the past couple years. several weaknesses were identified. prominent in the list is, of course, we do not fully know our enemies. this has already been partially remedied by simply being part of the game, staying competitive in the world market, and actively participating in the new knowledge