Thailand Sees Little Impact on Banks From U.S. Crisis So Far

By Suttinee Yuvejwattana

Sept. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. financial crisis that led to the failure of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. has had little impact on Thailand's banks, said Tarisa Watanagase, governor of the nation's central bank.

Asian policy makers this week downplayed concerns that their countries will be hit by a crisis similar to the economic meltdown of 1997, saying contagion from the U.S. turmoil is unlikely to infect their financial systems.

``There is not much impact on Asia this time because the problems haven't taken place here,'' Tarisa told reporters at a meeting of central bank governors in Bangkok today. ``We have a swap arrangement between us and standby credit to inject liquidity if problems arise.''

Central banks from Tokyo to New York injected extra cash into the financial system in the past week in a bid to calm markets roiled by the demise of Lehman and the U.S. government bailout of American International Group Inc.

To contact the reporter on this story: Suttinee Yuvejwattana in Bangkok at Suttinee1@bloomberg.net