Siam Institute of Technology has opened its own bank to encourage its students to save money and give them an opportunity to gain professional work experience as a bank officer.

Assist Prof Jomphong Mongkhonvanit, director of SIT, said recently that the |bank operated like a branch of a real bank as it was equipped with similar IT and service systems.

The Government Savings Bank trained and supervised the students working for the school bank. It also provided more than Bt100,000 to get the bank up and going.

Students would learn about management, teamwork, responsibility and service skills.

SIT was the first industrial school in the country to start its own bank.

It had run another bank for 10 years, but with management problems that bank was shut down in 2008.

The new bank would be under the school's accounting department, which would operate it the same way as other banks.

It was the school's policy to develop work-related competency. Accounting students would work at the bank in various departments performing the same duties as bank officers.

SIT is campaigning to promote a savings habit among students by depositing with its bank - which was part of His Majesty the King's sufficiency economy philosophy.

-The Nation/Asia News Network