# 1879
It isn't surprising that Thailand's central bank would require commercial banks and financial institutions to have a pandemic plan. But it is surprising that they've waited this long to require it.
A Hat Tip to Kobie on Flu Wiki for finding this article.
Bank of Thailand orders financial institutions to prepare for disease outbreak
BANGKOK, April 16 (TNA) - The Bank of Thailand (BoT) has asked commercial banks and financial institutions across the country to develop their own contingency plans to cope with the risk of disease outbreaks that may affect the financial sector.
In a circular, the Bank of Thailand ordered all commercial banks and financial institutions to draw up a plan to enable businesses to operate in the event of an outbreak such as influenza, and the human-to-human transmission of avian flu.
One of the key objectives of the exercise according to the central bank is to ensure that any disease outbreak would pose no threat to the functioning of the country's banking and financial service system.
Among the questions that banks and financial institutions must address in the outbreak contingency plan exercise includes how to carry on delivering services and how outbreaks impact the well-being of their staff, together with other preventive measures and responses.
In drawing up the plan, the banks and financial institutions are also asked to assess the risk of disease outbreak on their operations and to plan how to cope with possible consequences such as defaulting on loans, a liquidity crunch and soaring demand for credits, particularly in vulnerable sectors such as agriculture, tourism and the service industries. (TNA)
