Senior executive vice president, head legal and compliance | CIMB Thai Bank
Pajaree Thongvanit
Senior executive vice president, head legal and compliance | CIMB Thai Bank
Team size: 47
What are the most significant cases, projects and/or transactions that you and/or your legal team have recently been involved in?
The issuance of Tier 2 subordination bonds, which also marked the first sustainability-linked bonds by CIMB Thai Bank, is the most significant transaction of 2024.
How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis to ensure the organisation’s resilience?
With the changing social and political landscape and various headwinds, it is important to keep the team informed of changes, ensure they embrace these changes, and have open discussions among team members to find and agree on the right approach to handle situations or issues. This has proven to be an effective tool.
What do you think are the most important attributes for a modern in-house counsel to possess?
As things stand today, especially during this volatile period, it is important to have people with the right attitude who recognise and embrace change with the willingness and flexibility to adjust in a shifting world. A flexible and adaptable attitude is key.
How can general counsel foster a corporate culture that supports ESG principles and compliance across all levels of the organisation?
Without going into some technicalities about ESG, the key word that is even more important is ‘sustainability.’ The corporate culture of sustainability can be built from the tone from the top and also bottom-up approaches, where we can all meet at the same goal through either approach. This corporate culture can only be built if it is embedded into the daily work routine. For example, drinking from a reusable water bottle and having recycle bins are part of that process, but the key to embedding it into the company’s DNA is doing it every day as part of the routine. Small things can have a big impact.
Based on your experiences in the past year, are there any trends in the legal or business world that you are keeping an eye on that you think other in-house lawyers should be mindful of?
Definitely, ‘Liberation Day’ and ‘Trump 2.0’ are crucial and must be kept under close watch at all times. These developments are changing the global landscape entirely – socially, financially, and politically – alongside climate changes and recent disasters such as the Pacific Palisades fire and the earthquake in Myanmar, which affected surrounding countries. The world is changing fast!
Executive vice president, head of legal | CIMB Thai Bank
Head of legal | CIMB Thai Bank
