BOT:Thai banks meet international standards

BANGKOK, February 22 (TNA) - Bank of Thailand (BOT) Assistant Governor Chanchai Boonritchaisri has acknowledged that operational systems of Thai banks meet international standards and need no improvement. The BOT assistance governor for administration's made the comments on Tuesday, after Thailand was put on a ‘Grey List’ of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-governmental policy-making body whose purpose is to develop and promote policies, both at national and international levels, to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. Chanchai insisted that there is nothing to be worried over the current operational systems of Thai banks, saying, however, that it remains unclear whether the FATF requires Thailand to take any additional action in a fight against money laundering, and that the BOT, therefore, is to wait for and to follow the Thai government's policy and the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO)'s regulations. The BOT assistance governor affirmed that relevant tasks of the Thai central bank, particularly those concerning regulating and overseeing local financial institutes, also meet international standards. (TNA)