Interview with one of the top-ranked IR teams in South East Asia
This year, KASIKORNBANK edges up from seventh to six sixth place in the All-Asia Top 50, takes the award for best IR by a Thai company for the fourth year in a row, and is runner-up for the grand prix for best overall investor relations by a large-cap company in South East Asia.
The people responsible for this impressive record are led by Dr Adit Laixuthai, the senior executive vice president, corporate secretary and chief IRO at KBank. His team has remained pretty constant: Marisa Watthaphanich, Romchat Songsiri, Suchart Lertwatanakitkul, Saisunee Dejnantharat and Katalee Krachangsaeng, plus Vasinee Nuntagij, the newest member of the team, who joined in 2014.
Watthaphanich says there has been no change to the company’s IR philosophy. ‘We have always been, and continue to be, consistent, transparent and timely,’ she says. ‘The importance of IR at KBank is shaped by the commitment of our CEO, two presidents and the board of directors to our shareholders.’ Indeed, she says the team enjoys high-level commitment, not least because ‘top management realizes the importance of IR, especially in twoway communication with shareholders.’
That translates into the CEO and other top executives meeting with investors on a regular basis to convey the bank’s philosophy to shareholders. ‘The number of meetings with shareholders, investors and analysts has been increasing due to the higher number being held by the CEO, presidents and management committee members,’ explains Watthaphanich. From January to October 2015, she reports, KBank’s executives and the IR department had a total of 198 meetings with 717 firms and 932 individuals.
These included all kinds of encounters: on-on-one meetings, conference calls, analyst meetings, investor conferences, global non-deal roadshows and local nondeal roadshows. As for the geographical spread, 14 percent of the meetings were in Thailand, 39 percent were elsewhere in the ASEAN region, 17 percent in the UK, 11 percent in the US and the remaining 19 percent were in other countries.
This profile first appeared in the IR Magazine Investor Perception Study – Asia 2015/2016, which is available to professional subscribers to IR Magazine.
