, that effort has adopted an approach to credit risk on instruments held in the banking book that differs from the current capital rules applied to instruments held in the trading book under the 1998 market risk amendment ( mra ) to the basel accord. clearly, the fair valuing or “ marking to market ” of trading portfolios and the implied holding period of such positions factor into such differences. at the same time, however, we must remember that the mra approach was adopted at a time when bank trading portfolios looked very different from today. the significant growth in the credit derivative market is just one example. also, there appears to be an increasing tendency for financial institutions to hold less - liquid instruments in trading accounts over longer time horizons than has been traditionally associated with the concept of a trading account. this suggests that the time may have arrived for supervisors to begin to review the implications that financial market innovation and the changing nature of trading accounts have for the current capital regime applied to these activities. in an initial effort to fully identify the types and characteristics of instruments that are held by banks in their trading accounts, and that are held at fair value by securities firms, a joint subgroup of international organization of securities commissions and the basel committee on banking supervision is surveying the industry. this survey is also focused on gaining a better perspective on the range of techniques financial institutions are developing to more robustly measure the risk these instruments entail. the information acquired in this survey is to be fully incorporated in supervisors'review of the current adequacy of the mra. it is important for me to note that this effort to review the mra is still in its early stages. as yet, it is uncertain whether this effort will result in minor revisions to the current mra or significant changes. challenges in securities accounting and auditing both of these issues relating to practices around securities accounting should also be viewed in light of broader issues that are challenging corporate management, independent accountants, and regulators. fair value accounting for securities, whether in the income statement or in disclosures, relies on key assumptions, modeling techniques and judgment. for example, modeling techniques are commonly used in valuing mortgage - backed securities. the present value of the estimated future net cash flows attempts to anticipate consumer behavior to adjust for prepayments of mortgages due to forecasted interest rates. changes in the assumptions used in the modeling approach for any instrument or product will affect the resulting values. for example, if property values are rising rather than falling, the

. monetary policy ladies and gentlemen, let me turn to my last subject, that of monetary policy. 8. the mpc ’ s ultimate mandate is to safeguard the macroeconomic and financial stability of the country. in the last few years, the bank of thailand has maintained an accommodative monetary policy stance. mindful of imminent downside risks to growth, the policy rate was cut three times in the mpc meetings of may and november 2013, and again in march 2014. in these three meetings, the mpc were of the view that the reductions of policy interest rate were necessary to ensure sufficient support to the domestic economy. the current real policy interest rate, which is now in a negative territory, aims to help alleviate the financial burden on households and corporations, allowing them to withstand short - term shocks. 9. however, as the current policy interest rate is already low, further easing would not be without concerns. in the last meeting in april 2014, the mpc decided to maintain the policy at 2. 00 percent. the rationales behind this decision were that the current monetary policy stance was accommodative enough to support the economy as the prolonged political uncertainties were the main cause for risk to growth, not the financial conditions. meanwhile, room for further policy accommodation was diminishing, and any possible side effects of keeping the interest rate low for a protracted period, needed to be taken into account. 10. i would like to end my remarks by thanking you all again for your contributions to the thai economy and let me assure you that the bank of thailand will continue our works to ensure a stable and resilient financial and economic environment, conducive to economic growth of the country. thank you very much. bis central bankers ’ speeches