Chin Sophonpanich (; ; 10 November 1910 – 4 January 1988) was a Thai entrepreneur who founded

Bangkok Bank Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited (, Royal Thai General System of Transcription, RTGS: Thanakhan Krung Thep) is one of the largest commercial banks in Thailand. Its branch network includes over 800 branches as of May 2024, within Thailand, wit ...

and Bangkok Insurance.

Biography

Chin was born in Wat Sai quarter in

Thonburi __NOTOC__ Thonburi () is an area of modern Bangkok. During the era of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, Kingdom of Ayutthaya, its location on the right (west) bank at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River had made it an important garrison town, which is ref ...

Province (currently Chom Thong District) to a

Thai Chinese Thai Chinese (also known as Chinese Thais, Sino-Thais) are persons of Chinese people, Chinese descent in Thailand. Thai Chinese are the largest mixed group in the country and the largest overseas Chinese community in the world with a popul ...

family. His father was a Chinese immigrant from Chaoyang,

Shantou Shantou, Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized as Swatow and sometimes known as Santow, is a prefecture-level city on the eastern coast of Guangdong, China, with a total population of 5,502,031 as of the 20 ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

who worked at a sawmill, while his mother was a local-born

. At the age of five years, Chin was sent back to China for education, and upon returning to Thailand at 17, he took up his first job as a manual labourer. In 1944, Chin founded Bangkok Bank, which started with only two shophouses. The bank later expanded and diversified into

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. Chin lived in Hong Kong from 1957 on, when Thailand came under the rule of

Sarit Thanarat Sarit Thanarat (also spelled Dhanarajata; ; born Siri (); 16 June 1908 – 8 December 1963) was a Thai politician and military commander. He served as commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army (from 1954) and as Minister of Defense during ...

, after he fell out of favour with the former dictator. By 1972, the bank was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Chatri Sophonpanich served as president of Bangkok Bank from 1980 to 1992, and his son, Chartsiri Sophonpanich, has been president since 1994. Rabin Sophonpanich (also known as Robin Chan) has since relocated to

with his family. He had two wives. With his first wife, Lau Kwei-ying, he had two sons, Rabin Sophonpanich and

Chatri Sophonpanich Chatri Sophonpanich (; ; 28 February 1934 – 24 June 2018) was a Thai businessman who served as the chairman of the board of directors of the Bangkok Bank beginning in 1999 and he was also one of the CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also ...

. With his second wife, Boonsri, he had seven children, including Chote Sophonpanich and the Khunying Chodchoi Sophonpanich (). Bernard Chan (a.k.a. Charnwut Sophonpanich) later became a local legislator and its Executive Council member. Chin's daughter-in-law, the Khunying Kalaya Sophonpanich, wife of Chote Sophonpanich, was the Thai Democrat Party's Minister of Science and Technology. On 23 February 2009, she presided over the opening ceremony of the 2008 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics, ROBIO 2008, held in Bangkok.2008 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics
ait.asia. Accessed 20 April 2022. Chin Sophonpanich died in 1988, aged 77, in his native

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

References

Sources

*''The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas'', page 223, "The Rise of Bangkok Bank", Michael R.J. Vatikiotis,

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

, (). {{DEFAULTSORT:Sophonpanich, Chin Chin Sophonpanich Chin Sophonpanich Chin Sophonpanich Chin Sophonpanich Chin Sophonpanich Chin Sophonpanich 1910 births 1988 deaths