BANGKOK Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Monday slammed the imposition of "BIS standards" on crisis-hit Asian banks, claiming that excessive demands for "good governance" and "transparency" in banking was exacerbating poverty in the region.

"Adherence to a new set of transparency and good governance banking standards not only has created massive public debts but ensured that these economies will be unable to cope with the problem of poverty alleviation," Thaksin said in his address to the 57th session of the Bangkok based United Nations office.

According to DPA report, Thaksin used the opening session of the UN's Economic and Social Commission for Asian and the Pacific (ESCAP) to criticize international pressure on Asian banks, whose loose lending practices many have blamed for leading to the financial crisis that hit the region in 1997, to abide by BIS (Bank of International Settlements) standards.