Page 8 - ELITE PLUS MAGAZINE Vol 3

COVER STORY6 Elite+but we weren’t the only ones. While Bangkok Bank became the biggest bank in Southeast Asia, Singapore had its government bank, DBS (Develop- ment Bank of Singapore), which also employed an aggressive marketing policy. They started off small, but the full support of the Singaporean government enabled them to expand very quickly. Once DBS and Singa- pore’s PostBank merged, DBS became and remains the biggest bank in ASEAN.The expansion and success of a bank can be achieved in several ways, whether through internal growth or mergers. Bangkok Bank’s principle strategy was and remains the former. That is, we’d like to grow on our own strength, and through our own re- sources. This may be a slower process, but I felt it was more stable in the long run. We took what we could along the way, and waited for opportunities for the business to grow slowly but assuredly. Nowadays it’s all about M&A [mergers and acquisitions], which can help you grow quickly, but which are also more risky, depending on the firms you acquire.E+: What’s your secret to manage- rial success?I don’t think there is any secret at all. What I did was actually quite simple, and not much different from those of other successful executives in banking, or other businesses. There are three main factors:1) You need a good team behind you. No matter how good you are you can’t handle the big job alone. You need a talented, capable team to brainstorm and execute the plans.Banking is fairly simple. You take deposits, make loans and provide financial services. So banking is all about service and marketing. A bank, like any company, needs good employees to be successful. You have