Background

The Association of International Banks (AIB) began as an informal grouping of foreign banks operating in Thailand that met periodically to discuss issues of concern to the foreign banking community. The AIB was originally established under the name of the Foreign Banks’ Association (FBA) which was registered on the 2nd of April 1996 on the advice of the Bank of Thailand. It was felt that Thailand would be better served by a formal body to represent foreign banks.  The FBA’s name was subsequently changed to the Association of International Banks on 1st January 2009.

Objectives
The Association of International Banks was established with the following key objectives:

• To play a positive role in strengthening Thailand's banking system.
• To represent foreign banks in Thailand with the Bank of Thailand and other regulatory bodies on issues of concern to the foreign banking community.
• To cooperate and maintain an ongoing dialogue with the Thai Bankers' Association on matters of common interest.
• To organize, solicit and coordinate the exchange of information and expertise among its members.
• To provide training seminars for members on legal, tax, regulatory issues, etc.
• To provide external conference covering interested topics to banking community.
• To provide research and translation services to its members.
• To facilitate press relations on matters pertaining to foreign banks in Thailand.
• To identify and address common problems and concerns.
• To promote and maintain good fellowship between its members.

Business Lines
The main lines of business are:

1. Advocacy consists of advocating members’ common interests to relevant authorities e.g. the Bank of Thailand, the Ministry of Finance, the Revenue Department, etc. with the goal of promoting regulatory reform and improving transparency.
2. Member services consist of providing translation, organizing seminars and trainings which are of interest to members. The AIB also hold sports events to promote good fellowship between members, and foster relationship between members and the central bankers. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities are organized to enable members to lend support to deserving causes. The AIB maintains a website: www.aib.or.th which lists services and events held during the past years. Translations of notifications and regulations as well as comparative monthly balance sheets of all commercial banks in Thailand are available in the section of the website restricted for members only.

Membership
The membership is classified into three categories as follows:

1. Ordinary Member is either foreign domiciled bank which operates in Thailand under a full banking licence or domestic bank whose significant shareholder is a foreign financial institution.

2. Associate Member is either foreign domiciled bank which operates in Thailand other than with a full banking licence which shall, for example, include representative office, or domestic bank which more than 10% but less than 50% of its shares are held by foreign financial institutions within the same group;

3. Honorary Member is any person appointed by the Association for a specific period of time.

Members
Currently there are 20 members consisting of 19 Ordinary Members, and 1 Associate Members.

Ordinary Members A:
The Royal Bank of Scotland N.V.
Bank of America, N.A.
The Bank of China
The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd.
BNP Paribas
Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank
CIMB Thai Bank Public Co., Ltd.
Citibank N.A.
Deutsche Bank AG.
HSBC
Indian Overseas Bank
JP Morgan Chase
Mega International Commercial Bank Public Company Limited.
Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd.
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. Ltd.
RHB Bank Berhad
Standard Chartered Bank (Thai) Public Co., Ltd.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
United Overseas Bank (Thai) Public Co., Ltd.

Associate Members:
ING Bank, N.V., Representative Office

Membership Registration Fee and Annual Fee
The registration fee for all members is THB 200,000. The 2009 annual fee for an Ordinary Member is THB 254,400 and for an Associate Member is THB 107,100. (All quoted fees are exclusive of VAT.) Fees are determined by resolution of a General Meeting or an Extraordinary Meeting. Any member joining the Association after the first of January will pay a pro-rated annual fee on a quarterly basis from the joining date to the 31st of December of that year. On the second calendar year forward, the annual fee is due at the beginning of the year. Honorary members are not required to pay a registration fee or an annual fee.

Board of Directors
The current Board of Directors is as follow:-

Staff

Office
The office of The Association of International Banks is located on the 19th floor of the Sathorn Thani Building 2, 92/55 North Sathorn Road, Bangkok 10500
Telephone: 0 2236 6070-2 Facsimile: 0 2236 6069
Website: www.aib.or.th
Email: aibthai@aib.or.th

Updated : 3 June 2009