For Thailand’s oldest banking family, it’s a legacy-defining deal 25 years in the making.
That’s how long Chartsiri Sophonpanich has been waiting to turn Bangkok Bank Pcl into a key regional player in Southeast Asia. His winning takeover bid for Indonesia’s PT Bank Permata in December is a $2.7 billion bet that now is the time to jettison decades of caution and secure his family’s legacy for a fourth generation.