Above: Robin Chan (left) is in half-retirement now and has turned over management of the family business to his sons Stephen and Bernard (right). Provided to China Daily

Robin Chan relishes the family business that his father founded in Thailand 50 years ago and prospers under him and his sons in Hong Kong, Joseph Li recently spoke to him and his son Bernard.

Robin Chan, at 78, is still healthy, full of energy and socially active. Though maintaining his position as the chairman of Asia Financial Holdings, he has turned over management of the family business to his sons Stephen and Bernard. "I am in semi-retirement, as my sons take full charge of the investment and insurance operations respectively, except when they consult me for important matters," he said softly.

Many people are unwilling to work for the family business to be independent, but Stephen and Bernard Chan were different.

"They have been very willing to help in the family business. They knew I would retire after working for several decades and they also wanted to keep the business that their grandfather established," Robin Chan said. "After completing tertiary education aboard, they worked in other companies to gain experience before returning to the family business and so they were not dandies."

The real name of Robin Chan's father was Tan Piak Chin according to the Malay spelling. He also had another name Chin Sophonpanich conferred by the Thai emperor in recognition of his contribution to the Thai society.

Like many overseas Chinese, his grandfather and father left their hometown in Chaozhou of Guangdong to seek a fortune in Thailand in the early 1900s.

Chan was born in 1932 when his pregnant mother returned home from Thailand but his father remained in Thailand to do business. His boyhood days were miserable during the war with Japan. Very often, the money remitted by his father was lost in transit or stolen. His mother lived a meager life with him and his younger brother through farming and still sent them to school.

When the war was over, he was sent to attend school in Hong Kong at 14. He returned to Bangkok in 1950 to work as a trainee at Bangkok Bank founded by his father and attended school at night.

His father had a humble beginning in Bangkok, having worked as a restaurant waiter and porter in the early years.

Robin Chan got married in 1952. A year later, he went to New York with his wife, where he worked in a bank at day and learned banking practices at Columbia University at night.

"Life was tough while I was working and studying at the same time," he said. "But I had the chance to learn many things from especially the US experience. I had never attended formal university education but I learned my trade through practical experience."

He returned to Thailand in 1955. He was soon sent to Hong Kong by his father to take over the investment and rice import businesses. He has stayed here since then but he went back to Thailand several times a year to visit his relatives.

"It was the first time I handled business all by myself," he recalled. Owing to backward telecommunication, it was very difficult to connect a long distance call and his father only came to Hong Kong twice a month.

"So I had to make business decisions while I was barely 20 years old, but this helped me to be independent and self-reliant," he smiled and said.

The family business developed gradually, as the Hong Kong economy was beginning to flourish and transiting from the manufacturing-oriented economy, he recalled.

In 1953, the Bangkok Bank branch office was established in Hong Kong. In 1959, Robin Chan joined his father and several leading businessmen in setting up Asia Insurance, as they saw the growing potentiality of the insurance industry.

"Hong Kong is a promised land where I developed my business and found my fortune," he said. "Looking back at the past 50 years, Hong Kong has encountered ups and downs such as the 1973 stock market disaster, the Asian financial crisis, the SARS epidemic and the global financial tsunami but each time Hong Kong came through the stern tests."

He said it was because of his play-safe character that he did not pursue overly aggressive business activities. The group had plenty of money but it did not buy any mini-bonds.

In 2006, he sold the Asia Commercial Bank (formerly known as Hong Kong and Swatow Bank founded in 1946). The banking environment was very tough for small banks, he explained, as they needed to make provisions like large banks and so they decided to sell it at a good price.

Bernard Chan, 45, is also well-known. Apart from representing the insurance constituency in the Legislative Council from 1998 to 2008, he became an Executive Councillor in 2004, until he gave up most of his public services in 2008. He also followed in his father's footsteps to become a deputy to the National People's Congress.

He volunteered to help in the family business because he saw huge potential for development of the group of companies.

"I had no burden of joining the family business," he admitted. "Honestly, the burden was whether I could do well. If I did not do well, I would let my father down."

After returning to Hong Kong, he worked in his uncle's investment company for about five years and then returned to the family business.

The competition in the banking and insurance sectors are very keen, he said, and their companies need to excel among their competitors.

"Integrity was the key to success of the older generation businessmen. That is what my father inherited from my grandfather and what I inherited from my father," he said. "Our companies are not the largest and neither are our prices the lowest, but our customers feel we are honest and trustworthy."

Talking about their "business relationship", Bernard Chan is full of praise for his dad who gave him so much of a freehand. "He is very willing to accept different, new ideas, giving me a high level of job satisfaction, but of course I need to sell my ideas to him," he said.

He conceded he had made mistakes and wrong decisions, adding that "I had to admit mistakes that I made and learn from them. My father gave me many chances. Had he not deliberately protected me, I would not have the chances to try."

The relationship between Robin Chan and his sons is close. "I gave them plenty of freedom so that they could learn to be independent," he said.

The father and sons live in an eight-story building, with each family occupying two floors.

Each unit has its own entrance, hires its own domestic helpers and is connected by telephone extensions to the other units. "Since we are all very busy, we seldom see one another on weekdays, we get together during the weekend, but the kids see their grandparents more often," said Bernard Chan.

From 1998 to 2008, Robin Chan became an NPC deputy, completing the 7th to 10th terms. "At that time, it was an appointed seat and the election system was only introduced in recent years," he smiled.

As he retired, he wanted Bernard to succeed his NPC seat. "He was reluctant because some ridiculed him that he was inheriting my seat," Robin Chan said. "But I told him there was no such thing as inheritance and he had to face an election. He changed his mind, went on to win the election and I am glad he has since done his job quite well."

At one stage, Bernard Chan held over 30 public services, earning himself the nickname of "King of Public Services". But in 2008, he declined the LegCo election and gave up most of the public services.

"I promised my wife back in 2004 to fulfill just one more term," he recalled. "She reminded me that as our kids (four and two years old) were growing up, we needed to spend more time with them, or we would miss the most important part of their development. Today I am glad I made the correct decision. If I had remained with LegCo, I would have very little time for the family and kids."

He noted as the balance of power in LegCo is getting more wide open, lawmakers rarely find common ground while the government finds it more difficult to lobby for votes. And as LegCo workload is becoming heavier and more complex, full-time lawmakers are a growing trend and it is hard for a functional constituency lawmaker to serve on part-time basis.

(HK Edition 06/10/2010 page4)