Daveroc

Go to a large branch of the bank you have your account at and you should have little difficulty.Not all branches are authorised to do payments and as such their knowledge will be limited. The fees are probably going to be around 400 baht at this end and your overseas bank in the UK may e4xtract a further 20 pounds.

As the money remains in EURO it technically has not entered Thailand. There will be no problems in transferring the funds in any event. you have the evidence that the funds came from offshore.

However, check with your Bank what the rate of commission will be to do the transfer. Because the Bank has not profited by converting it to Baht, often a commission charge of around .25% applies in addition to the SWIFT charges.

so a work permit would NOT be required to transfer the funds in this case?

"The second best time to plant a tree is today" sent from TV android app (Galaxy Cooper).

Correct. There is evidence the funds were brought into the country and as this is one requirement of BOT that allows the system to transfer money away they can be remitted back out.

When Banks offer special rates they will often put a minimum amount required condition in order that they do not get flooded with a lot of small deposits for which passbooks have to be issued and as such additional cost will be incurred. for example BBL has a rate of 2.625 for 4 months with a minimum of 200,000 baht.Hhowever if you wanted to accept the standard fixed deposit rates available, which are lower, you could commence a deposit for a minimum of 2,000 baht.

I want to take back about 700,000 baht to uk. What is the best way to do this? Transfer to my uk bank? Would i lose much in the exchange rate?

That depends on what rate you brought it into the country. To transfer this amount out you are best to do it through the banking system. While a few costs, it arrives within 24/48 hours to your account in the UK an is immediately available should you need it.

Missy 1827, if you would like to contact me through PM I will get some details from you and investigate your situation.

Daveroc ( BBL)

Does not matter which Bank you are with. These are Bank of thailand regulations which provide guidance and oversight to all the Banks registered in Thailand

As the money remains in EURO it technically has not entered Thailand. There will be no problems in transferring the funds in any event. you have the evidence that the funds came from offshore.

However, check with your Bank what the rate of commission will be to do the transfer. Because the Bank has not profited by converting it to Baht, often a commission charge of around .25% applies in addition to the SWIFT charges.

Check if your overseas bank has a correspondent arrangement with your thai Bank. If it is straight bank to bank the charges will be as quoted at the Thailand end plus whatever your sending bank is charging.

If a third Bank has to be used because the overseas bank and the Thai Bank do not have correspondent arrangements there will be an additional charge.

Important to keep a couple of areas separate. You do not need a work permit to open a FCD account. However you may be required to show evidence of where the USD came from if you want to remit away from Thailand. Under the regulations the Bank of thailand requires the Banks to sight evidence that the funds were earned in Thailand, and to earn legally here you need a WP, or that the funds came from overseas. The Banks will remit some money away at times without these documents as some posters will point out.

If you are being paid in USD, are they coming from overseas? If so you have the evidence of the bank transfers that will satisfy the Banks requirement to remit the money away from thailand.

The Banking system is allowed under BOT rules to remit up to 70% of your annual earnings. Proof of earnings is by way of a letter from your employer. This is lodged with the Bank where you do your transfers and they monitor it.

You should be able to open an account at most banks. The usual documentation is a passport and a second form of ID such as a drivers license. Opening balance is around 500 baht, ATM cards are available and there is another charge for that. No other Bank charges for the standard savings account most people obtain.

An indication of the process is available at the attached website.

http://www.bangkokbank.com/Bangkok%20Bank/Personal%20Banking/Foreign%20Customers/Pages/Opening%20an%20account%20new.aspx

Udonguy, i have sent you a PM with my details if you want some further assistance.

dave

The facility allows you to view and print the transactions for the past 6 months. Prior to that 6 month period you will have to order statements.

Click on the account number you wish to view and the transactions will appear. Set the period on the bottom of the screen that you wish to view and print.

Dave

Maximum 5 days.

Dave (BBL)

There are no minimum amounts applying to the SWIFT transfer system. However bear in mind the costs of both the sending and receiving bank when deciding how much to send and if it is worthwhile..

You can register regular payments to made overseas through the internet system. Attached is a link to the website outlining the procedure.

http://www.bangkokbank.com/Online%20Banking/For%20Personal/iBanking/Services/pages/ift.aspx

If you require assistance, please PM me

Dave (BBL)

The limits are set at zero, 20,000 or 50,000. Not really designed for the purpose you are seeking.

Because this issue was raised a number of times with our staff at the Bank, we wrote to the immigration for a ruling. The ruling came back from the Head Office that it was immaterial whether it was in a Savings Account or a Fixed Account. Both are issued with passbooks.

However, as has been stated it depends a lot on the office you are dealing with.

It is a 13 month stepped product which increases the interest rate every three months until you receive 8% for the 13th month. effective rate is around 3.5% for 13 months.

http://www.kasikornbank.com/EN/RatesAndFees/Deposit/Pages/Deposit.aspx

Tinytot, You will no doubt get a number of replies based on posters personal experience. You have all the documents required which should be sufficent for any Bank to open your account. I attach a link to Bangkok bank website.

http://www.bangkokbank.com/Bangkok%20Bank/Personal%20Banking/Foreign%20Customers/Pages/Opening%20an%20account%20new.aspx

Thank you Pib for outlining the process of the transfer of funds from overseas to Thailand.

Over ther time i have particiapted in this forum there have been a number of allegations that the Banks hold the funds in Thailand to gain a few more satang profit out of the transaction. On each occassion I have investigated a transaction on behalf of a poster, it has mostly been found that incorrect information was supplied by the remitter which prevented the Bank from crediting the account, there were public holidays at one end of the transaction or the funds were not sent from overseas on the day the receiver of the funds thought they had been.

Almost without exception, whenever someone claims to have experienced undue delays, numerous posters respond with their experience stating the exact opposite

Claiming also that the Banks sit and wait for the worst rate to apply to the transaction is also showing a lack of understanding on commercial reality. The bank does not make a profit until they convert the transaction. Given that the bank appies a commission percentage to the amount of baht received, it is actually in the banks interests to get as much baht for the customer that they can.

However i will again place the offer to investigate the timeline of any transaction through Bangkok Bank where a poster believes they have been hard done by .

Dave

Opening an account with Bangkok Bank London is not the solution to your issue. The funds would still have to be sent to the account in Thailand and this incurs costs. While BBL's london office does provide a service to transfer funds at a slightly better rate, see attached link, other posters in the past have explained cheaper ways of transferring funds to an account in Thailand

http://www.bangkokbank.com/Bangkok%20Bank/Personal%20Banking/Transfering%20Funds/Transferring%20into%20Thailand/Receiving%20Funds%20from%20UK/Pages/Receiving%20Funds%20from%20UK.aspx

I have sent you a PM should you want some assistance using the banking system.

I suspect there are very few if any banks in the world where each branch has a SWIFT Code. The code is issued to the Bank, not the Branch. The process you outline is not the case on most Banks in Thailand. If funds come from overseas and the remitting bank and the receiving bank have correspondant bank arrangements the funds will be in most accounts anywhere in Thailand within 48 hours.

If the Remitting bank has to use a third party bank to complete the transfer to a Bank in Thailand it will add a further 24 hours to the transfer.

Yes there will be the occassional glitch where a name or account number is incorrect, but I think if you assess the majority of the experiences reported on this forum, most people have their funds within 48/72 hours of the remitting bank actually starting the process.

The rules set by the Bank of Thailand for the Banks to administer the foreign exchange remittances state that the banks must sight evidence that the money was legally earned in Thailand or the funds were brought into the country. If you have statements or passbooks showing the funds arriving from overseas then that should be sufficent evidence for the Banks to proceed.

If you instruct your USA Bank to send money to the Thailand Bank you should only need to provide them the exact name of the account, the Bank, Branch and account number and the SWIFT code of the thai Bank.

i.e. Bangkok Banks SWIFT code BKKBTHBK