##prudential policy, can be inefficient and may lead to more volatility as investors engage in regulatory arbitrage roengpitya and rungcharoenkitkul ( 2009 ) “ measuring systemic risk and financial linkages in the thai banking system ”, bank of thailand discussion paper. across different economies. to address this dimension of the challenge, a more coordinated approach to macroprudential measures may be needed. although steps towards formal coordination have yet to be established, ongoing close cooperation amongst regional economies has already resulted in a number of common platforms through which greater policy coordination can be conducted. for example, the asean + 3 macroeconomic research office ( amro ) to be launched next year is already mandated to conduct economic and financial surveillance across the region. the office will be in a good position to study this type of policy coordination. in the meantime, more discussion among policy makers in the region should be encouraged, as we increasingly are facing common problems that are of a global nature. to this end, i would like to commend bank indonesia for organizing this international conference, which contributes tremendously to the region ’ s discussion and efforts along this line. it is on this note that i would like to end my remark. thank you.

treated fairly, that they are provided with clear and complete information about the product and price before and after the sale, and that they are given sound advice which takes into account their needs and circumstances. in this connection, we have put a ceiling on interest rates on personal and credit card loans. we also require transparency and disclosure of interest rate calculation and fees that banks charge their customers. we have provided guidance to banks regarding appropriate procedures to handle customer complaints as well as fair debt - collection practices. we have also been working to improve the information available to the general public on our new website that we hope would help to facilitate consumer education and raise the level of financial literacy. i would like to strongly urge banks and service providers to do your part in helping to raise the level of financial literacy of your customers, so that they are capable of making wellinformed decisions on the financial products they really need that will not inadvertently lead to problems for themselves or for the service providers later on. ladies and gentlemen, i would like to spend the next few minutes sharing with you what i see as some of the key challenges that the retail banking industry face, going forward. first, competition is likely to intensify further, both between banks themselves and with nonbanks. banks will continue to diversify their sources of revenue by continuing to increase the share of consumer loans in their portfolios. an increasing number of middle - class customers – both wealthier and more financially educated – will be more demanding about the kind of financial products and services that they require. higher competition and more demanding customers will drive service providers to become more customer - oriented in their product offerings in order to create some product differentiation and brand loyalty in the largely commoditized market. competition will also likely drive service providers to seek new untapped opportunities which will increase the size of overall market. by virtually all international benchmarks – whether they be debt service or debt to income ratios – the average thai household still has a relatively strong financial position. thus, the challenge for service providers is to selectively target viable customer groups among the previously underserved segment. the second challenge is maintaining high standards of credit underwriting and risk management in the face of more intense competition. it may be tempting for service providers to lower underwriting standards in order to compete for market share in the face of greater competitive pressures. in view of the severe consequences of the current global market turmoil that originated from poor underwriting standards in the us subprime market ; this