Madam Pang, whose real name is Nualphan Lamsam, is a fifth-generation descendant of the Lamsams, a Thai business family of Chinese descent.
Before gaining recognition as the president of the Football Association of Thailand (FAT), she spent years managing the family’s insurance business that was built upon a legacy established over the course of more than a century.
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Madam Pang at the first leg of the 2026 ASEAN Cup final between Thailand and Vietnam on Aug. 22, 2026. Photo by Facebook/Madam Pang |
According to the South China Morning PostMadam Pang's ancestor was Ung Miao Ngian, a Hakka man from Guangdong, China, who emigrated to Siam during the reign of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V).
He started out in the timber industry in the early 20th century before expanding into rice milling and agricultural trading.
His son, Ung Yuk Long, took over the business. He sent his three sons, Choti, Chulin and Kasem Lamsam, to study in China and England to prepare the next generation.
The three brothers later became pivotal figures in expanding the family’s operations into finance and insurance.
The name “Lamsam” also has an interesting backstory. Family records indicate that Ung Miao Ngian adopted the name following a meeting with a group of people in China and it eventually became the official family surname. In modern Thai, “Lamsam” is even used colloquially to imply a wealthy person.
Bmy empire
A major milestone came in 1945 when Choti Lamsam and his Chinese relatives founded Thai Farmers Bank, which is the predecessor to Kasikornbank (KBank) today.
The bank was established on June 8, 1945, with a registered capital of 5 million baht (US$151,800) and a staff of just 21 employees. By the end of its first year of operation, the bank successfully held 12 million baht in deposits and possessed total assets of 15 million baht.
From a small bank focused on serving local farmers, KBank gradually expanded its domestic and international networks.
The current scale of KBank is vastly different from when it was founded. Forbes reports that it now ranks among Thailand’s top three banks, with assets totaling around $144 billion.
One of the most important figures at KBank is Banthoon Lamsam, a cousin of Madam Pang.
Banthoon assumed leadership of the bank in 1992 and served as chairman for many years before stepping down in April 2020. He is currently chairman emeritus. Forbes notes that Banthoon, who holds an MBA from Harvard, managed KBank for decades, and the wealth of him and his family comes primarily from the banking sector.
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The headquarters of Kasikornbank in Bangkok, Thailand, Photo by Reuters |
Venturing into insurance
From their banking foundation, family members continued expanding into the insurance sector with Muang Thai Insurance.
Tracing its history back to 1932, when it was originally named Kwang An Long Insurance, the company underwent various transformations and mergers before evolving into the current Muang Thai Insurance Public Company Limited in 2008.
This is the sector where Madam Pang built her business career. Official records of Muang Thai Insurance list Nualphan Lamsam as a director and CEO.
Her father, Photipong Lamsam, currently serves as chairman. Her brother, Sara Lamsam, is also on the board of directors.
There is no single publicly available figure for the total assets of the whole family, as business operations are distributed across multiple branches. However, Forbes provided benchmarks to help visualize the massive scale of wealth held by key branches of the family.
In the “Thailand’s 50 Richest” list, Forbes valued the assets of Banthoon Lamsam and his family at $1.45 billion, ranking them 19th.
As for Madam Pang, she serves as a director for at least 16 companies in Thailand with a combined value of approximately $3 billion.
Her personal wealth, along with that of her husband, Police Colonel Narat Sawettananas, is estimated at several hundred million dollars.