Thailand Bank Board Gives Approval to Rise in Principle.

Byline: Cholada Ingsrisawang

Oct. 3--Smiles are becoming increasingly rare these days among local bank executives. It's not hard to understand why, as the slowing economy and increasing bad debt levels gives rise to talk of bonus cuts and new layoffs.

Yet morale at state-owned Krung Thai Bank recently received a boost, as management are planning to put a proposal to directors calling for a 10 percent across-the-board pay rise.

The pay rise will be to compensate for plans to extend operating hours by one hour to better service customers.

The KTB board has approved the rise in principle, and is studying details on the timing of the programme.

The plan was presented to the board last month by KTB president Viroj Nualkhair, part of a broader plan to help move KTB toward "private" bank standards.

As of June, total staff expenses at KTB totalled 3.23 billion baht, out of total non-interest expenses of 9.35 billion baht. The headcount at the end of the first half was 15,292, on par with similarly-sized banks.