Kasikornbank
As the first woman to head up Kasikornbank since it was founded in 1945 – and the first from outside the ranks of the Lamsam family – Kattiya Indaravijaya has already secured a place in the bank’s history.
Since her appointment in April 2020, she has proved adept in responding to the pandemic, whichtook a heavy toll on tourism and exports, the key drivers of the Thai economy.
While KBank, like its peers, has been hit hard by the crisis, its performance in 2020 was the best of the bunch.
Net profit last year amounted to Bt29.4 billion ($890 million), a decline of 24% over the previous year. That compares with a drop of 33% at rival Siam Commercial Bank and 52% at Bangkok Bank.
The non-performing loans ratio increased to 3.9%, from 3.7% in 2019. The figure can be expected to rise further, given a third wave of Covid-19 cases that started to sweep through the country in July. Fortunately KBank, which is the second-largest in Thailand by assets, is well cushioned with a capital adequacy ratio of 18.8%