The Corporate Governance of the Banks in Thailand

Abstract

Corporate governance (CG) has received increasing attention from Thai businesses, including banks, since the Tom Yam Gung or Asian financial crisis which began in Thailand in 1997. The two purposes of this study were, first, to investigate the CG policies and practices of three leading banks in Thailand, and, second, to create a CG system or model to incorporate best practice in CG in Thailand. This study used a qualitative research design, while data collection employed qualitative mixed methods paradigm by using the guidelines of Morse (2009). The eight participants in this study were selected by using purposive sampling from the banks which had received awards from the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). The data were gathered with face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions, as well as by document analysis. Data analysis began immediately as the data was being collected. Codes were categorized and themes were identified and defined based on a three-phase coding system. Three selective codes of meaning were found to be shared by all participants: Existence of a Corporate Governance Structure, Inclusion of Corporate Governance in the Operation Process, Disclosure and Transparency. The areas of concern in this study were focused on CG in leading Thai banks to achieve sustainable development from the directors’ perspective as the executive and non-executive level administrators.