Sino—Thai Corporate Profligacy and the Financial Turmoil of 1997

Abstract

This paper seeks to examine the 1997 financial crisis in Thailand through an analysis of the structure and performance of Sino–Thai companies in banking, finance, and property. It argues that the crisis exposed structural weaknesses which had long been evident in Chinese corporations in South East Asia, and that, although many institutions – for example the Bangkok Bank – were able to survive by restructuring, a large number simply collapsed. The paper, which has a strong historical dimension, examines the relationships between Sino–Thai banks and business groups, the growth of finance companies in Thailand during the boom of the 1980s and early 1990s, the heavy inflows of foreign capital into the kingdom during the boom, the behaviour of the stock market and the property market, and the failure of Thai financial regulators to impose discipline on the Thai financial sector in the years leading to the crisis.