Women now rule banking in Thailand

AS one of four presidents at Thailand’s biggest lender, Kasikornbank, Kattiya Indaravijaya often conducts interviews for senior positions. The job candidates are impressive. And almost always, they’re women.

“I’m wondering, there’s no guy?” Kattiya, 51, said in an interview in her office along the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. “It’s not that they didn’t pass the screening process, they didn’t apply. Perhaps women’s interest is in banking and finance. Perhaps guys have a different passion.”

In Thailand, where years of educational equality have combined with a profession that rewards math skills and merit, women comprise 31 per cent of board and executive committee members in financial services — some way short of parity but the highest proportion in the world after Norway and Sweden, according to a study last year by consulting firm Oliver Wyman. In the US, the representation of women in similar positions is 20pc. Japan is at the bottom of the list, with 2pc.

“Men probably look for more exciting and challenging jobs than the financial industry, where work requires more patience, detail, caution and rule compliance,” said Voravan Tarapoom, president of the Association of Investment Management Companies, a mutual funds trade group, and also chairman of BBL Asset Management Co. “They may feel financial industry work is so boring.”

BBL has to pay special attention to the number of males hired, or else women will dominate the firm, Voravan said.

“Financial jobs require very detailed and cautious persons,” she said. “This may fit the female character more.”

Women account for 57pc of Thailand’s finance and insurance workforce, according to government statistics. Yet the fact that two-thirds of senior management and executive roles are filled by men indicates Thai women still face challenges in achieving equality, said Joni Simpson, a specialist on gender, equality and non-discrimination at the International Labor Organisation in Bangkok.

“Accounting is a field that is accessible to women in Thailand, and therefore they have been able to advance in this sector and are highly visible across several levels of jobs,” she said, citing cultural norms and attitudes in Thailand. “The chances are better for women to advance to the highest levels.”

Bloomberg-Washington Post News Service

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2017