"The management of the bank will remain unchanged. The board of executive directors, which has responsibility for the establishment of the bank's policies and business plans, headed by Dr Charnchai Musignisarkorn, chairman of the board of executive directors, together with the present management team are responsible for the management to comply with the bank's policies and business plans as established," the company said.

Joti's sacking was not unexpected, as in late April he was not reappointed to the bank's board by shareholders. He was the only one of five directors who sought reappointment at the end of their terms in office not to be voted back.

According to ACL Bank data, as of March 31, 2006, the Finance Ministry held 30.61 per cent of its stock, Bangkok Bank held 19.26 per cent, Goldman Sachs had 5.05 per cent, Somers (UK) held 4.3 per cent, while Kendall Court Value had 4.14 per cent.

The stock closed yesterday at Bt3.62, up 0.56 per cent on the day.

ACL won approval from the Bank of Thailand to upgrade from a finance company to a commercial bank late last year. However, the bank's size is relatively small with Bt47.77 billion of assets as of the end of March, compared with the Bt1.44 trillion of Bangkok Bank, Thailand's largest bank.

The bank saw its second-quarter net profit drop 20.51 per cent to Bt237.07 million from Bt298.26 million in the corresponding period last year. Its net profit in the first six months also slid, to Bt467.85 million from Bt576.48 million in the same period last year. - The Nation