Team size:  73 

How do you see the general counsel role evolving in Thailand over the next five-ten years? 

Currently, the line between practice areas under general counsel (legal and compliance) is blurrier than ever. Our tasks have grown more complex and involve several legal and regulations that could contradict each other.  Most foreign banks now require legal background to hold the position of head of compliance, a position I agree with, as using that legal logic can mitigate a process.  

Lawyers must bridge their experience and knowledge by using present technology to cope with handling complex transactions under excessive requirement.  

I understand there are new compliance regulations for commercial banks coming into play this year. What is the direction of regulatory evolution in Thailand and what do you see on the horizon? 

The Pace of regulatory requirements keep growing fast in the past five years (Compliance risk universe rose from 266 key controls in 2020 to 402 in 2024 from 11 regulators targeting financial sector).  While the requirement keeps expanding year by year, we optimized our work force with 30% less head count compared to five years ago.  Data Analytics and AI tools became crucial especially to maintain the firm in a stringent business environment.