• 
• 

Boontuck was one of the bank's executive vice presidents before his resignation late last year. Later on, he was handpicked by ING Group of the Netherlands to take over as the new chief executive of TMB Bank, in which ING has a 30-per-cent stake.

"I got a two-year scholarship [from KBank] and was supposed to work for the bank for at least four years after returning to Thailand.

"That was part of the terms and conditions, but I ended up staying over there for a very long time. Looking back, I was proud of my role in helping the bank issue about Bt40 billion worth of SLIPs [atapled limited interest preferred shares - a type of hybrid securities counted as a bank's capital].

"That helped the bank avoid having to join the government's rescue scheme in the wake of 1997 financial crisis," he said.

At TMB, the country's sixth largest in terms of assets, Boontuck has plans to turn the Thai bank into a leading player in the local market over the next three to five years.

ING Group, which is the world's seventh-largest financial-services group, currently has three operations in Thailand, covering banking, insurance and asset-management sectors.

The Dutch group also has sizeable networks in India, where its local partner has a 475-branch retail network, as well as in China and Korea.

"We could support our customers' business expansion abroad, especially in these foreign markets where we have strong networking," he said.

In terms of organisation, Boontuck said TMB will be reorganised to be a customer-centric enterprise with specific strategies for each customer segment, covering customer needs during different stages of their life.

"We want our staff to be able to respond to the customers' needs effectively and efficiently. In my opinion, people are the most important asset, so we need to take good care of them.

"We've just approved an annual Bt400-million budget to adjust the salaries of our staff [to rationalise varying pay structures resulting from a previous merger].

"If they feel good and proud of their organisation, there will be positive consequences as far as our customers are concerned. In other words, the quality of leadership, employees' passion and an organisation's structure are among the key factors determining [whether] a business will succeed or fail," he said.

Previously, TMB was a merger of Thai Military Bank, DBS Thai Danu Bank and IFCT.

TMB suffered two straight years of heavy losses (2006 to 2007), but it managed to return to profitability in the first quarter of this year.

The bank is preparing to sell about Bt30 billion worth of non-performing loans and assets in the next five months before gearing up to expand its market share.

"Under the new business structure, we will focus on retail banking and risk management while delivering better services to customers.

"Our services are essentially better financial solutions that help customers cut their costs and minimise their business risks," he said.