Thailand is a free enterprise economy that welcomes foreign investment. It had the distinction of enjoying the world's highest growth rate during 1985-95. Banks contributed substantially for this growth through their dominant presence in the economy. However, during the 1997 Asian Crisis, the economy suffered heavily due to speculative pressures on Thailand's currency. The domestic currency Baht was massively devalued, and the nation switched over to the managed float system of exchange. While there was significant improvement since then in the external sector management, banking sector has not regained the past glory due to pile up of NPAs and losses from 1997 onwards. Thai banking needs to face the challenge of bad loans from the first principles.

Thailand, situated in South-Eastern Asia, has a population of over 6.4 crore. Ethnically, 75% of them belong to Thai Nationality, while Chinese and others account for 14% and 11% respectively. Almost 95% of the population follows Buddhism, while Muslims account for nearly 4%. Bangkok is the capital of this constitutional monarchy.

Thailand had the unique distinction of recording the world's highest growth rate (in GDP terms) during 1985-1995, averaging about 9% annually. However, the South-East Asian crisis of 1997 has caused economic distress, in the form of grossly devaluated home currency (baht) followed by significant economic contraction.