The deadline to apply for the Bank of Thailand (BOT)’s governor position passed on Friday and six candidates are in contention for the position.
Veerathai Santiprabhob, the current governor of the central bank, will not seek a second term when his five-year term ends on September 30.
The selection committee for the Bank of Thailand said there are six candidates for the position including;
- Mathee Supapongse, current BOT’s deputy Governor of Monetary Stability,
- Ronadol Numnonda, current BOT’s deputy governor of Financial Institutions Stability,
- Sethaput Suthiwart-Narueput, a current member of the BOT’s Monetary Policy Committee
- Anusorn Thamjai, former dean of the Economic Faculty at Rangsit University
- Suchart Techaposai, head of research for Thailand at CLSA Securities
- Tongjai Thanachanan, former head of institutional business at Ayudhya JF Asset Management
All of the so-called “outsider” candidates have former ties with the central bank.
Anusorn is a former member of the BOT’s Audit Committee. Suchart is a former senior investment dealer of the BOT, and Tongjai is a former investment officer at the central bank.
Local news and experts pointed to the two “insiders”, including Mathee and Ronadol, along with one outsider, Sethaput, as the front runners.
Of the 20 previous governors, only six were outsiders.
Apart from being a member of the MPC, Sethaput is on the board of PTT Exploration & Production, Osotspa and the Puey Ungphakorn Institute. He is also a founder of Thailand Future Foundation.
He got his doctoral degree from Yale University and he has served as the World Bank’s senior economist based in Washington.
Anusorn, current director of business reform at Rangsit University and a former member of the MPC, has on Sunday proposed nine recommendations for the new BOT governor.
For example, the BOT should extend the loan payment holiday for all SMEs by another six months once the measure comes to an end in October. The measure will affect some banks so they must be supported, he added.
He also expressed concerns over the rising NPLs within the commercial banking system, strong baht, and the intensifying of the trade war between the US and China.
