Chin Sophonpanich

Chin Sophonpanich (Thai: ชิน โสภณพนิช, Chinese: 陳弼臣, 10 November 1910 - 4 January 1988) was a prominent Thai businessman and the founder of Bangkok Bank and Bangkok Insurance.

Chin was born to a Chinese immigrant father from Chaoyang, who worked at a sawmill, and a Thai-Chinese mother in Thonburi,Bangkok. At the age of five years, Chin was sent back to China for education, and upon returning to Thailand at 17, he took up his first job as a manual labourer.

In 1944, Chin founded the Bangkok Bank, which started with only two shophouses. The bank later expanded and diversified its branches into Hong Kong, and Chin lived in Hong Kong from 1957 onwards when Thailand came under the rule of Sarit Thanarat, after he fell out of favour with the former dictator. By 1972, the bank was listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Chin died at the age of 78 in 1988. He had two wives. With his first wife, Lau Kwei Ying, he had two sons, Rabin Sophonpanich and Chatri Sophonpanich. With his second wife, Boonsri, he had seven children, including Chote Sophonpanich and the Khunying Chodchoi Sophonpanich (Chinese: 陳鳳翎).

Chatri Sophonpanich served as president of the Bangkok Bank from 1980 to 1992, and his son, Chartsiri Sophonpanich, has been president since 1994.

Rabin Sophonpanich (also known as Robin Chan) has since relocated to Hong Kong with his family, and his son, Bernard Chan later became a local legislator and its Executive Council member.

Chin's daughter-in-law, the Khunying Kalaya Sophonpanich, wife of Chote Sophonpanich, was the Thai Democrat Party's Minister of Science and Technology. On 23 February 2009, she presided over the opening ceremony of the 2008 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics, ROBIO 2008, held in Bangkok, Thailand.

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