Bangkok Bank received the ‘Best Managed Bank in Thailand’ award and Bangkok Bank President Chartsiri Sophonpanich received ‘The Asian Banker CEO Leadership Achievement for Thailand’ award. The awards were in recognition of the Bank’s excellent work in taking care of customers to help them get through difficult situations, strong business operations, the acquisition of PermataBank to become the 6th largest bank in ASEAN, continuous development of digital banking and the investment in enhancing the potential of employees to be a ‘trusted partner’ for customers and Thai people at large.
The Asian Banker, the leading financial magazine in Asia, gave the ‘Best Managed Bank in Thailand’ award to Bangkok Bank and ‘The Asian Banker CEO Leadership Achievement for Thailand Award’ to Bangkok Bank President Chartsiri Sophonpanich based on the Bank’s achievements during January 2019 – December 2021.
Mr. Chartsiri said that he is very honored that The Asian Banker gave these prestigious awards to him and the Bank. These awards affirm the efficiency of the Bank’s business operations and achievements of all parties. These range from the formulation of business policies by the visionary executive committee and experienced executives, to putting the policy into action by employees at all levels to help create valuable financial products and services to customers and stakeholders in line with the Sustainable Development Business Principles covering Environment, Social and Governance (ESG).
Over the past few years, there have been several challenging factors for the banking industry, particularly the Covid-19 pandemic that made a serious impact on every business. Bangkok Bank implemented various policies and measures to closely and continuously help each group of customers with a variety of support solutions that meet the needs of each customer. The criteria for receiving assistance was divided into three phases: short-term assistance to help solve liquidity problems to support the businesses, medium-term assistance to restore the businesses, and long-term assistance to offer ways to adjust the business model to be in line with the new market in order to increase the competitiveness in the long run.
In the midst of this challenging situation, Bangkok Bank continued to drive business growth especially through its strong business network expansion with the acquisition of PermataBank in Indonesia. This was not only the largest by value acquisition in the history of the Bank, but also the most valuable bank acquisition in ASEAN.
The acquisition reinforced the Bank’s position as a leading regional bank with the addition of more than 4 million additional customers and around 300 branches in Indonesia and an increase of 10.9 billion US dollars in assets. As a result, Bangkok Bank became the 6th largest bank in ASEAN and the largest bank in Thailand by total assets, with an international network of 310 branches in 14 economies and more than 900 correspondent banks worldwide outside of Thailand. At present Bangkok Bank’s international loans stand at 25% of its total portfolio, which helps diversify risk and provide additional opportunities for expansion in high-growth markets.
Mr. Chartsiri added that the development of digital banking is a is a driving force behind the Bank’s Mobile First strategy. He said under this strategy, the Bank focused on getting a deep understanding of customers’ mobile banking behavior which was used for the development of our Bangkok Bank Mobile Banking app to provide ease of use and a good customer experience – a distinctive advantage that continues to help attract new customers. As a result, mobile banking transactions currently account for more than 90% of the Bank’s total transaction volume. He said the Bank is proud to be able to offer financial services that meet the needs of our customers.
“In terms of sustainable growth, we place our focus on personnel development by investing heavily in technologies to build skills, including tools and resources for learning and development of our personnel. For us, human resources are at the heart of everything we do to drive our business towards sustainable growth under our commitment to be a ‘trusted partner’ who will always stand by customers and meet the financial needs of the Thai people and business sector,” said Mr. Chartsiri.
The Asian Banker CEO Leadership Achievement for Thailand Award has been given to the CEO, or chairman and the board of directors of financial institutions with an outstanding performance in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa regions since 2004. The award is given every three years to allow each financial institution leader time to drive and implement their strategies. The award has been widely accepted as it is a rigorous award program that awards only the most outstanding individuals and organizations in each country. In 2022, the CEO and organizations awarded came from countries across the region, including Cambodia, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, the Philippines, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
