Published on October 25, 2005

Having been in the industry for 60 years, Kasikornbank has gone through several crises.

Many employees at the bank still recall the last bout of pain when its once-prosperous finance and securities arm, Phatra Thanakit, had to be dissolved after the 1997 financial crisis. The bank shouldered huge non-performing loans and it had to sell more shares to raise funds.

As a result the bank’s founding Lamsam family’s stake in the bank was shaved to a tiny amount. It must have been agonising for the family, but Banthoon Lamsam, chief executive of Kasikornbank, has managed to handle the changes coolly, saying that as long as shareholders have faith in him, he will stay in his job.

And now he is apparently fighting to push Kasikornbank forward. He has done so through a television commercial, “K Hero”, which looks more like a cartoon than an ad designed to tout a bank’s corporate image.

The hero is a mixture of the burly green giant “Hulk” and the web-slinging “Spider-Man”. Banthoon, who was inspired to create the hero from one of his young son’s toys, said the commercial was intended to be cartoon-like.

After he got the role of leading character, computer graphics helped make the commercial modern and attractive.

The hidden message is that the banking group has been changed in tandem with the global environment and that it wants to satisfy existing and future clients with a passionate staff and advanced technology. Truly, this is a crucial move, before foreign banks start penetrating the market.

While imposing measures to tame business risks, many Thai banks are fretting about the spectre of foreign banks competing against them. If the poor health of the economy can benefit any sector, it must be local banks. That’s because a slowing economy will likely prompt foreign banks to focus first on China, a market that is more lucrative at the moment.

Kasikornbank is also expanding its business overseas. Aside from attempts to lend more to Japanese companies operating in Thailand, it is expanding aggressively in China. The bank has a branch in Shenzhen and representative offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Kunming.

But it’s not a simple expansion.

Banthoon knows that it is difficult to do business in China, but he received psychological encouragement from his personal fortune-teller.

Just don’t call him superstitious yet. As evidenced by “K Hero”, Banthoon also believes in the power of modern technology. Listening to a fortune-teller just demonstrates his excellence in balancing modern and traditional forces.

achara-d@nationgroup.com

Post your comment to this story here