Kaitai Bank, formerly known as Thai Hua Farmers Bank, is one of the four major commercial banks in Thailand and has a history of 76 years.
Behind the success of Kaitai Bank is many vivid stories and immortal legends. The honorary chairman of Kaitai Bank, Wu Wantong, is the fifth generation of Hakka Chinese in Meizhou, and behind it is a prominent family of "five generations of wealth".
Wu Wantong, honorary chairman of Kaitai Bank, is "rich for five generations" and is worth 1 billion US dollars
Wu Wantong, Honorary Chairman of Kaitai Bank
Kaitai Bank (China) Co., Ltd., which officially opened in November 2017, is currently the only ASEAN-invested bank headquartered in Shenzhen, and currently has three branches in Shenzhen, Shanghai and Chengdu and Shenzhen Longgang sub-branch in China. Today, we share the evergreen story of the "richer than five generations" Wu Wantong family behind the scenes of Kaitai Bank, and also understand the growth process of Taihua entrepreneurs from one side.
On the 2021 Forbes Thailand Rich List, The Xie Guomin Brothers, a Thai Chia Tai Group with $30.2 billion, continue to be thailand's richest man, and the second place on the list is the Xu Shu'en family behind the "Red Bull" beverage, with a net worth of $24.5 billion. It is worth paying attention to this list, in addition to the number of rich people in Thailand and how many Rich Thai Chinese are on the list, but behind the scenes of each rich man in this list, there is an "evergreen tree" family, and its successful inheritance experience and value are even more precious.
In Thailand's rich list, those rich people "richer than three generations" has become a normal phenomenon, even four generations richer, more than five generations rich are no longer a minority. For example, the honorary chairman of Kaitai Bank, Wu Wantong, who is on the list today, is worth 1 billion US dollars, and the Wu family, which is prominent in Thailand behind the scenes, has inherited the ancestral business, and has been rich for five or six generations, which is itself a legend of the intergenerational relay of family businesses, and is still full of surging vitality.
Kaitai Bank, formerly known as Thai Hua Farmers Bank controlled by the Wu Wantong family, is one of the four major commercial banks in Thailand, in addition to being a thai financial giant, it is also the leader of Thailand's digital banking business, 76 years later, it is still advancing with the times and thriving.
In July, Mr. Banthoon Lamsam, Honorary Chairman of Kay Thai Bank, was awarded the "Asian Banker Financial Services Industry Leader Lifetime Achievement Award 2021" by Asian Banker magazine, and he was also the first Thai financial institution leader to receive this award.
On April 3, 2020, Mr. Wu Wantong resigned as a director and chairman of Kaitai Bank, and was succeeded by ms. kobkarn wattanavrangkul, the former vice chairman, and Kaitai Bank also ushered in the first female chairman in its history since its establishment more than 70 years ago.
It is worth mentioning that at the same time that Wu Wantong retired to pay the baton, the board of directors of Katyl Bank appointed Ms. Kattiya indaravijaya as the CEO of the bank, creating another history since the establishment of the company, and Katia also became the first CEO of Kaet thai Bank who was not a member of the Wu family.
Founded on June 8, 1945, Kaet Thai Bank is currently one of the four largest commercial banks in Thailand headquartered in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, and was successfully listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand in 1976. Kaitai Bank, formerly known as Kasikornbank (also known as kbank), had only 8 people in the early stage of its opening and a registered capital of only 5 million baht.
This small bank, which is not well known in the early days of its establishment, has experienced the baptism of the Asian financial crisis in the past 76 years, survived various crises, from the third generation of Wu's, to the fourth generation, the fifth generation, generation after generation, generation after the succession relay, and now, Kaitai Bank and the Wu Wantong behind it are also widely praised and recognized in Thailand and even internationally because of the good corporate governance and corporate culture that promotes sustainable management, as well as the model of a sound operating institution that is socially and environmentally responsible.
In May 2016, Wu Wantong (second row left) in Songkou Town, Meixian District, ancestral residence "Tongfengdi"
In May 2016, as the fifth generation of Hakka Chinese in Meizhou, Wu Wantong, then chairman and CEO of Kaitai Bank of Thailand, completed an inspection visit to his hometown of Meizhou and paid homage to his ancestors.
Meizhou is the world's guest capital and the second largest overseas Chinese township in Guangdong Province. Wu Wantong told the local leaders at that time that returning to his hometown in Meizhou to find his roots and ask his ancestors was his long-term wish. He also said that his hometown of Songkou Ancient Town in Meixian County is the starting point for overseas Chinese to embark on the Maritime Silk Road, and as a descendant of Chinese at home and abroad who have gone out of Songkou, he is willing to work with the villagers in Meizhou to jointly promote Sino-Thai friendly cooperation and make a modest contribution to building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
Wu Wantong, born in 1953 in Bangkok, Thailand, is the grandson of Wu Bolin, one of the founders of Kaitai Bank, his late father Wu Banchao, who was the president of Thai Hua Farmers Bank, and Wu Banchao is the eldest son of Wu Bolin. Wu Wantong, the first generation of the Wu Wantong family, was born in Nanxia Village, Songkou Town, Meixian District, Meizhou City, Guangdong Province, and is also known locally as "Xi nanxia Village".
Located in Nanxia Village, Songkou Town, the ancestral residence of the Wu Wantong family "Tongfengdi", is a typical Hakka ancient residential building with three halls, two horizontal and one dragon, and the upper hall has the inscription of "Wu Miaoyuan Gongjia Biography" of Wu Wantong Gaozu Wu Miaoyuan.
Incidentally, today's Songkou Xi'nan School was founded in 1912 by Mr. Wu Wantong's great-grandfather Wu Zuonan, and has a history of nearly 100 years. Incidentally, the CCTV "Maritime Silk Road" large-scale documentary film crew also went to Meizhou five years ago to film and record the scene of Wu Wantong's return to his hometown.
Although he could not speak Hakka, Wu Wantong knew in his heart that his roots were in Meizhou
Wu Wantong in Nanxia Village Wu Clan Ancestral Hall "Anding Hall"
A month before Wu Wantong returned to his hometown in May 2016, he had consulted with the Wu clan relatives of Nanxia Village in Songkou Town, Meixian District, through his personal teacher, on the matter of ancestor worship, which shows the importance he attaches to returning to his hometown to worship his ancestors.
Wu Wantong later recalled the scene of returning to his hometown to worship his ancestors, but his soul was still haunting and could not be forgotten for a long time. Wu Wantong said: "Seeing the relatives who are still related by blood in my hometown, seeing the ancestral home of the family, the place where Grandfather Gao (Note: Wu Miaoyuan) was born, and the place where he boarded the ship to go to Nanyang, the family history dictated by the elders spread out in front of me, like a vivid historical picture scroll, telling the context, this experience is fantastic and real. ”
From the time his grandfather Wu Miaoyuan went to Thailand to make a living in the 1870s, the Wu family was already the fifth generation in Thailand when wu wantong was founded, although born in Thailand, he was sent to the United States to study at the age of 14, and later obtained a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Princeton University and a master's degree in business administration from Harvard University until he returned to Thailand for military service in 1977 and entered the family's Kaitai Bank two years later. Wu Wantong himself can no longer speak Hakka, and Chinese culture and language are not as good as his ancestors, but Wu Wantong said that in his heart he still knows that his home is in China and his roots are in Meizhou.
In fact, the Kaitai Bank, founded by the Wu Wantong family, flows the blood of Chinese culture and maintains the root soul of national culture. Kaitai Bank was renamed from "Taihua Farmers Bank", and the word "Kaitai" is derived from the "Sanyang Kaitai" in the I Ching.
Wu Wantong's grandfather Wu Miaoyuan
In the 1870s, Wu Wantong's grandfather, Wu Miaoyuan, boarded a ship from his hometown in Songkou, Meizhou, and went south to Thailand to make a living with the wave of immigrants. Initially, after Wu Miaoyuan settled in Bangkok, he worked as a clerk in a Chinese-run liquor store and helped in the owner's timber shop until 1901, when Wu Miaoyuan started his own business and also opened the timber shop "Guangyuan Long Commercial Company".
Like many Chinese who have settled in Thailand, Wu Miaoyuan has also married Thai women, established a family, and since then has taken root and settled in Thailand. As a result of his later winning the right to harvest trees in northern Thailand, the scale of Guangyuanlong Trading House has also become larger and larger, from a small business with no name, gradually becoming a well-known timber merchant with business at home and abroad, during which he also obtained more expensive teak logging rights, and opened a Guangjinlong sawmill, opened a real estate store, export bank and other diversified operations.
Before Wu Miaoyuan died, he had his homeland in mind, and after his death, his family also buried him in his hometown of Meixian Songkou. Five years ago, when Wu Wantong returned to his hometown to find his ancestors, he personally went to the ancestral grave to worship. 12 years after his death, the famous educator Cai Yuanpei once wrote an inscription for Wu Miaoyuan's portrait: "After the dangers of Kangzhuang, Tianhuai Xiaoyouqian is related; Weinan a water flowing soup, Dezeyuan through the Chunshen River." ”
Woo Zona with his wife Nangthong
Wu Wantong's great-grandfather Wu Zuonan, is the eldest son of Wu Miaoyuan, in the foundation of his father's generation, Wu Zuonan expanded his business territory to the rice industry, teak gardens, long-distance bus transportation agency rights, the branches of his industry in addition to All over Thailand, but also extended to China's Guangzhou, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Shantou and his hometown Meixian and other places, in India, Britain, London and other overseas, and even South Africa also has his branches.
The tree is thousands of feet tall and does not forget its roots, and in 1912, it donated to build Songkou Xinan Public School and Hongyu Primary School, which is only one of the good deeds of wu Zuonan, the second generation of the Wu family. Wu Zuonan is a well-known overseas Chinese leader in Thailand, the founder of the Thai Hakka Association, he befriended Dr. Sun Yat-sen, served as the president of the Thai Chinese Chamber of Commerce, the chairman of Tianhua Hospital, the president of the Thai Hakka Association, the director of the Thai Red Cross Society, in the Thai business community and the Thai Chinese community, Wu Zuonan has considerable influence.
Since the first generation of Wu Miaoyuan, the Wu family has a Thai surname "lamsam", and many people also call it "Lan San", called it the Lan San family. As for taking the Thai surname "lamsam", it is said that it is related to the bandits encountered by Wu Miaoyuan during a trip, and I will not dwell on it here.
Like many of Hong Kong's old tycoons, Ng Tsok Nam is also a marriage of tycoons, and his wife, Nangthong, is the daughter of a wealthy Thai Chinese businessman. In the second generation of the Lansan family, the Wu family cultivated the hot soil of Thailand, branched out, and the number of families continued to expand. When this article is recounted, it is only along the branch of Wu Wantong, and it is inevitable to hang on to the omission.
Wu Wantong
Wu Bolin, the eldest son of Wu Zuonan, is the third generation eldest grandson of Wu Miaoyuan, and he is also one of the founders of Kaitai Bank. After the end of World War II, led by Wu Bolin and united with some Chinese businessmen, on June 8, 1945, the Thai Hua Farmers Bank was founded, and he personally served as its president.
In 1962, Wu Wantong's father, Mr. Bancha lamsam, inherited his father's business and became the second-generation president of Taihua Farmers Bank, he was the fourth generation of the wu family's most pioneering spirit, in the hands of Wu Banchao, Taihua Farmers Bank and Chen Bichen's Pangu Bank, Li Muchuan's Ayutthaya Bank, and Zheng Wulou's Jinghua Bank became the four major financial giants in Thailand.
Wu Banchao was promoted to chairman and chief executive officer of Thai Hua Farmers Bank in 1976, and by 1983, the bank had jumped to the second place among Thai private banks, and in the same year the 19-storey head office building was completed. In 1992, Wu Banchao died, and his brother and his brother Wu Jiepu became the chairman.
Mrs. Wu Ban Chao, the mother of Wu Wantong, is the great-granddaughter of King Rama IV, the father of Thai science, the great-grandfather of Wu Wantong was also the first foreign minister in thai history, to U Wantong's maternal grandfather, who also served as ambassador to the United Kingdom, Wu Wantong's uncle Prince Diyathong Thiwakun, who served as governor of the Central Bank of Thailand and former Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand. In other words, Wu Wantong can be regarded as a distant relative of the Thai royal family, and his family has a prominent position in Thailand.
Wu Wantong returned to Meizhou in 2016 to look for roots
The year of the death of his father Wu Banchao, as the fifth generation of the family, Wu Wantong was also "helped on the horse" and became the president of Taihua Farmers Bank in 1992, at the age of 39. In his second year as President, Tha Wah Farmers Bank was reorganized into Volkswagen Limited and successfully listed on the Thai Stock Exchange.
The 1997 Asian financial crisis that swept through Asia bore the brunt of Thailand's banking sector, plunging the Thai baht and bringing the entire financial system to near collapse. However, due to Wu Wantong's heavy response and the introduction of the "corporate reengineering" theory to Thailand in 1994, Thai Wah Farmers Bank did not run at the height of the storm.
After the storm, although Wu Wantong almost exhausted the bank's capital in order to dispose of non-performing assets, after the "rebirth of nirvana", Kaitai Bank regained its glory and won people's respect for helping to revitalize Thailand's financial system.
Later, Wu Wantong also said that his father had never experienced the struggles and changes experienced by Thai-Chinese Farmers Bank during the Asian financial crisis. After experiencing tribulations and baptisms, Wu Wantong said that if the father (Wu Banchao) had a spirit in heaven, he would be proud of his son.
Thai Hua Farmers Bank added Chinese to its emblem in September 2002, which is extremely rare in the Thai banking industry and confirms that the Wu Wantong family has a strong Chinese complex. It is worth mentioning that for some time after 2000, Wu Wantong came to China almost every month, and he has been laying out the Chinese market strategy and understanding and studying his ancestral country.
Before Thai Wah Farmers Bank opened its business in China in 1992, it had set up an office in Hong Kong, China, the previous year as a springboard to enter China. In December 2017, Kaitai Bank (China) Co., Ltd. held an opening ceremony at Kingkey 100 Building in Shenzhen, with Shenzhen as its headquarters.
It is worth mentioning that Kaitai Bank is the first Thai bank in Thailand to sign a contract with China UnionPay to facilitate the use of the bank's ATM by UnionPay card holders. Kathal Bank is also the only bank in Thailand that uses thai, Chinese and English service languages and publishes annual reports in these three languages, and is also the first commercial bank in Thailand to open UnionPay card, Alipay and WeChat pay business.
This article is a wave of original content
Unauthorized reproduction and sending of excerpts in any form is strictly prohibited