Funny you should mention having to buy insurance. I wanted to get a safety deposit box at a bank at which I have had an account - and been a good customer - for 10 years, and they wanted me to buy life insurance for which I would have to pay in 500,000 baht a year for five years! Ridiculous, and even more so for someone like me who doesn't have any dependents. I (jokingly) suggested to the bank employee trying to sell me this useless insurance that I could marry her and name her the beneficiary of my life insurance. She thought that was a good idea.
I then went to another bank in the same mall. That one would have been willing to rent me a safety deposit box without the need for buying insurance, but they require a work permit for me to open an account, which is a requirement for getting the safety deposit box. And I'm on a retirement visa, so I don't have a work permit. Anyway, I'll keep trying to overcome these obstacles, which are all part of the challenge of living in Thailand.