The New Direction of KBANK without “Banthoon Lamsam”

In the digital era, the word “disruption” seems to be very common nowadays. Disruptions happen everyday in daily life and that also includes corporates being disrupted by newer technologies and trends.

 

One of the disrupted businesses is none other than the banking sector, which has been making changes non-stop due to the fast-changing trend in the world forcing the banks to do so; make change or bankrupt.

Once the structure of the bank has changed, the services and other structures also change as well.

 

However, there is one thing that never changes; the Board of Directors. Especially the Board’s structure of Kasikornbank Public Company Limited (KBANK).

KBANK was the first to apply the “Re-Engineering” concept to the company and was praised as an ideal company during the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997. The leader of KBANK that walked the company through the crisis is “Banthoon Lamsam”.

Which is why the announcement on April 3, 2020 to resign from all positions in the bank, not only shook those who work in KBANK, but also to those who have ever heard the reputation of “Banthoon Lamsam” during his 28-year of service in KBANK.

 

The “Lamsam Family” has been a part of KBANK since the beginning. The company was established in 1945 by Choti Lamsam, Banthoon’s grandfather. Then Bancha Lamsam, Banthoon’s father, took the torch, and later handed it over to Banthoon.

However, KBANK has been making some changes lately, starting with appointing “Prasarn Trairatvorakul” to an executive position, an electing Kattiya Indaravijaya as the next CEO, making her to be the first female CEO in KBANK and the first CEO that is not “Lamsam”.

 

When there is a first, then there will be a second. In the future, there could be more non-Lamsam executives as a driver of KBANK or even changing the major shareholder from Lamsam Family to others.

Let’s see which direction is KBANK turning to, and how it will turn out.