The opportunity to start up a truly Thai bank arose in the 1940s when local Thai businessmen found it difficult to get credit facilities from foreign banks, which then dominated the financial sector. In response to their needs, Bangkok Bank was set up. After it began trading in 1944, it enjoyed strong support from local businesses and grew rapidly. Not content to be a niche player, the Bank rapidly expanded by offering new kinds of services. It came to be the dominant player in Thailand - the bank which was used by all leading companies.
Innovation and sensitivity to customers' needs has always been the key to Bangkok Bank's success. It has maintained its commitment to innovative expansion and development, despite a sometimes turbulent economic and political climate which has included a succession of military coups and a massive regional financial crisis in the late 1990s.