Thailand Financial News

Moody’s Investors Service says the reliance of Philippines banks on remittances from the country’s overseas workforce provides enhancements to earnings stability and credit quality over the near and medium term.

“In addition, the combination of rising remittance flows and the renewed interest of banks in building consumer financial services has helped revive domestically retail banking products, which have grown faster than other types of loans,” says Richard Lung, a Moody’s VP/Senior Analyst.
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Thai Airways reported a 48% reduction in net profit and a 23% fall in operating profit in the three months ended 31-Mar-08, as higher fuel costs (+40% year-on-year) and currency losses offset double-digit growth in revenue, buoyant demand and higher load factors.
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The Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has recently published a report on Progress in Reducing Foreign Exchange Settlement Risk, a copy of which is available at the BIS website (http://www.bis.org/publ/cpss83.htm).
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Fitch Ratings says global banks have already written down more than 80% of their losses from subprime mortgage assets. In a special report published today, the agency estimates total market losses from subprime mortgage assets at USD400bn, though estimates may be as high as USD550bn, depending on the method of calculation used.

Approximately 50% of these losses, USD200bn-USD275bn, are held by banks, with the remainder held by financial guarantors, insurance companies, asset managers and hedge funds.

Our current ratings universe of U.S. corporates that are not in default decreased by 23 to 3,174 at the end of the first quarter of 2008 from 3,197 at the end of 2007, according to an article published yesterday by Standard & Poor’s. The report, titled, “U.S.
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Approximately P8.4 billion ($200 million) of rated debt affected.

Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded Philippine National Bank’s (”PNB”) E bank financial strength rating (BFSR) to E+. At the same time, the bank’s local-currency deposit and subordinated debt ratings have been raised to Ba1/Not-Prime and Ba2 respectively.
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Moody’s Investors Service has commented on the Royal Bank of Canada’s (RBC’s) announcement that it would take an approximate C$420 million charge, after tax and compensation adjustments, to its second quarter 2008 (2Q08) earnings. The bank’s structured credit exposures — including its exposure to U.S.
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The 61st World Health Assembly (WHA) will be held from 19 to 24 May 2008 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. The Health Assembly is the annual meeting of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 193 Member States and it is the supreme decision-making body of WHO.
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Siam Gas or “SGP” is going to offer 280 million IPO shares at 8 Baht apiece. Subscriptions for the offering are set for May 15-16 and 20-21. Siam Gas is expected to start trading on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, under the Energy and Utilities Sector early next month.
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As the 2007 financial crisis  spills into 2008, it is apparent that the dynamics of international finance are shifting dramatically, according to Fitch Ratings.

What  started  as  a  problem  in  a  particular  asset class - US subprime mortgages  -  has  become  a problem of global liquidity and, increasingly, solvency  for  the  banks;  a  massive  challenge  for  the  regulators and authorities  on  both  the  regulatory,  monetary  and fiscal fronts; and a serious threat to global financial stability.
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