LONDON'S LORD MAYOR IN BANGKOK
Financial hub a distant hope
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Could Bangkok ever become an international financial centre like London?
Alderman David Brewer, lord mayor of the City of London, believes Bangkok is certainly moving in that direction. However, it needs to improve its transport and regulations to attract international companies.
"We can't ask people to come to a financial centre. We have to attract them and keep them. That's what we do in London," he said.
London's lord mayor was in Bangkok as part of a regional visit. He met top executives from the Bank of Thailand and the Securities and Exchange Commission and attended a financial market seminar to speak about the UK's experience in public and private partnership cooperation.
He also met Bangkok's governor, Apirak Kosayodhin, and the issue of Bangkok rising to emulate London's success as an international financial hub was a large part of their conversation.
"Transportation is a major consideration for us in London," he said, and referring to Bangkok, he asked. "Is it possible to get in from the airport to the city quickly? I know it's more difficult here to get around between meetings."
As a financial centre, London has 43 per cent of the world's foreign equity market, 70 per cent of all European bonds are traded there and foreign exchange turnover is worth US$753 billion (Bt28.7 trillion) a day.
Importantly, a financial centre needs good regulations, and the city must have an academic education system good enough to offer human resources, he said.
He also said that an essential element in turning Bangkok into a financial centre is liberalising the country's financial systems.
"Twenty years ago," Brewer said, "we had a big bang. We liberalised everything."
Although US and European banks made a big impact in the London market after liberalisation, "by opening up, we become bigger. You actually get new products and new ideas coming in," he said.
However, he said Thailand should make such moves at the correct time.
"We believe you have to think of your economy here. You have to do things at the correct pace."
Apart from financial liberalisation, he said London's experience in public and private partnership cooperation should also serve as a model for Thailand in its public works.
Public and private partnership cooperation began in the UK about 25 years ago, and was refashioned in 1997 to allow the two sectors to work together to create new assets, and to have them built, financed and managed more efficiently.
Brewer said that since 1995 there have been 700 cooperative projects in the UK, and 500 are currently in operation. The private sector has funded projects worth more than ฃ50 billion (Bt3.6 trillion). They include 44 hospitals and 119 other health projects, 23 roads, bridges and light rail projects and 800 new or refurbished schools.
Public and private partnership cooperation is a transparent method of procurement in England, which is crucial in Thailand's current political climate, he said.
Brewer said that in spite of the political turmoil and anticipation of a new election, he was impressed by the optimism of Thai people.
