Mr. Chongrak Rattanapian, President of Kasikornbank Public Company Limited (SET: KBANK), revealed to “Kaohoon” that the bank’s share repurchase program has been executed in strict compliance with relevant regulations and laws, including the Public Limited Companies Act, the Financial Institutions Business Act, the Stock Exchange of Thailand regulations, the Bank of Thailand’s (BoT) requirements, as well as related rules, principles, and procedures, to ensure proper conduct.
The clarification came after the report of KBANK disclosing letters to major shareholders not to sell their stakes during the share repurchase program that the company will conduct from 14 November 2025 to 13 May 2026.
The bank provided details of the program in a disclosure to the Stock Exchange of Thailand on October 30, 2025, immediately after receiving board approval. The share repurchase program is one of the options for efficient capital management in accordance with international practice, and it is truly for the benefit of all shareholders. It can be seen that both domestic and international banks regularly implement such actions.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand has clear guidelines on conducting share repurchase (stock buyback) transactions. The bank will execute these transactions via the Stock Exchange’s automatic trading system and will report the share repurchase results in accordance with the SET’s requirements.
“As for the BoT’s criteria, there is a prohibition on repurchasing shares from executives, employees, directors, and major shareholders in specific, targeted, or direct paired transactions. However, if major shareholders wish to sell shares through the Stock Exchange using normal procedures, they may do so,” stated Chongrak.
Chongrak further explained that regarding the request for “cooperation” from major shareholders during the share repurchase period, the bank has notified all major shareholders, not only the Gulf Group. If any major shareholder wants to sell shares via the Stock Exchange during the buyback period, the bank cannot prevent this—it is merely a request for cooperation.
Additionally, regarding the repurchase price, it may not match the reported price (THB 185.50), since the buyback fund of THB 8.8 billion cannot simply be divided by the shares to be bought back. Therefore, there is a chance the bank might buy back shares at a price lower than reported.
“The bank’s previous statement that we might have to wait for new (share buyback) criteria does not mean we must follow that course. If we assess that it is an appropriate time for a share repurchase, we can proceed immediately, as was the case in 2020 when the bank previously conducted a share buyback,” Chongrak said.
