ianguygil

August 18, 2021

If this is Bangkok Bank (KTB is blue also but a light blue) then please PM me and I can try to help. We have many millions of customers on Mobile of which many tens of thousands are not Thai. PM me, and I will give you my Bangkok Bank email and we can do it from there. Please do not send me any sensitive information in the PM. Just how we make contact

August 17, 2021

2 hours ago, Namplik said:

You forgot to tell which operator you use? I use DTAC and and in their app you can activate/deactivate roaming/data/international call.

I use all 3 major operators. I have a lot of phones like I said. I did it in May/June from the US on both AIS and DTAC when I went back to get my family and me vaccinated

August 13, 2021

Information required when sending funds abroad via SWIFT

To transfer funds overseas you will need the following information:

The recipient’s account name, account number and address.
The name and address of the recipient’s bank.
The SWIFT address of the bank that they have an account with (if any).
Supporting document (for Thai citizens, a document stating the purpose of the fund transfer; for foreigners, a document stating the income’s source).

If transferring funds to a bank account in Europe or the Middle East, senders should ask recipients for their IBAN.

Transferring out of Thailand (bangkokbank.com)

August 11, 2021

It is per account holder per financial institution.

One thing I would note is that across the world central banks increase deposit insurance when there are problems with banks, they do not decrease it. Just look at the FDIC going from 125K to 250K in the financial crisis.

I usually post on this forum very rarely. I must admit it is pretty amusing to see the conspiracy theorists thinking that I have some ulterior motive for posting, as if I will make money by doing it. Love it. Ignore the facts and cast accusations. It will serve you well when financial problems really happen.

Enjoy ????????

August 11, 2021

Honestly this is one of the subjects most recently raised to me, and just yesterday an elderly English man came running out of his home when he saw me walk by and asked me "why now". "Does this mean that some banks will fail soon? ". He has just sold up in the UK and moved over to Hua Hin "permanently". My wife is Japanese and her friends have been contacting me to ask if their retirement funds are "safe". Seems to be a real issue of concern

You guys have all covered this quite well. This was a long time in coming. This was not a recent development brought upon us because of COVID or something else. The deposit insurance was increased during the Financial Crisis 12 or so years ago, in order to ensure we don't have runs on the Banks. It was lowered to 5 million, then it is lowered again now to 1 million per depositor per financial institution. And you have it right in terms of it being limited to that no matter how many accounts you open in a single institution

This is supposed to do a couple of things. Firstly ensure that the insurance is paid for and solvent and will be there when needed. Secondly to introduce more competition into the market, because banks who are viewed as smaller may have to pay higher rates than banks who are better capitalized.

Now it is really important to note that ALL Thai commercial banks are well capitalized. The BOT are very smart people. All of the major banks sail through stress tests.

If this is something which will keep you up at night, then the most conservative thing to do is to put your cash into multiple banks as you said. But please remember this insurance only applies to THB savings accounts. Not to Foreign Currency accounts. Not to Mutual Funds and Stocks. If you are really concerned then you can invest in Thai government debt which is backed by the full faith and credit of the people who issue the Baht.

This is as always purely the information as I have it. It is not official communications from the Bank. It does not constitute investment advice. I have just seen so much concern personally from contacts and particularly from older people who don't have an easy way to earn back any losses, that I thought I would say a few words from my knowledge. But then again, I am a technical propeller head, so what do I know ......

August 10, 2021

You can activate roaming when already abroad. It is not absolutely necessary to do before you leave.

*125*1# uses the USSD protocol which rides on the GSM network and not the data network

Just a couple of tech nerd facts that may be of interest

August 9, 2021

PM me please if you run into problems with this at all.

August 9, 2021

I can't answer anything about other bank apps, but I can answer on Mobile Banking from Bangkok Bank. If you have questions PM me.

Again, the use of SMS (which is the only time we care if you have a Thai phone) is to give us 2 factor authentication for high risk transactions. Things like adding a 3rd party payee. So then the PIN is what you know, Fingerprint or Face is who you are. SIM is what you have. Being as things like FACEID and ANDROID FINGERPRINT are not very robust we tend to rely on SMS still, but that is changing. We use AI products from a global provider to give us digital identity dynamically. We also use a high end App Wrapper to inspect your phone for nasty software.

So to answer the question, you should be able to setup a phone with a new SIM, a foreign SIM, after you have successfully installed and activated the App on at least 1 device with a Thai SIM. I have many many phones, 2 iOS and many ANDROID, at the moment I use an iPhone Pro Max and a Galaxy S21. I also travel a lot (pre Covid and only sometimes recently) and at times I install a foreign SIM on the phones that already have a the App. It works fine. But if you want to do something that we consider high risk we will ask you to prove what you have, i.e. the Thai SIM for the phone number registered as your "primary". We could care less if you use WIFI or are abroad. That is other banks, not us. But if you are coming in from a location or a device which has been naughty on any online service we will know and we will block you, be it in Thailand or overseas.

PM me if you need to know more about Bangkok Bank. I know nothing and have no opinion about other competitor banks as my official policy so I don't get in trouble. Culturally we will always lean towards the conservative to ensure the security of our customer's accounts, and we will always comply with regulations.

August 9, 2021

Please PM me if you need more help or explanation. As you can see from my years I am a senior exec at Bangkok Bank

Firstly I need to clarify a few misstatements and and misunderstandings from what I can briefly read here.

Firstly, the card was not compromised. That would require that the Chip on the card was somehow hacked, and these are special security sealed chips that are tamperproof.

What does appear to have happened is that the information on the card has leaked out somewhere. Anyone you give your card to, a store, a restaurant, etc. has the opportunity to take a front and back image of the card which includes the CVV - 3 digit code - on the card. This used to be good enough, but in the days of the Internet that is not secure at all

In information security we look for 3 things, 2 of the 3 give you "strong authentication". These are what you know (password, PIN, pass phrase, SSN etc.), what you have (CHIP, SIM, smart card etc.) and what you are (Biometric). In this case someone processed a transaction using just "what you know" which is the card number, expiry date, CVV and possibly the billing address This could've come from a prior transaction and that merchant being hacked. Not the card hacked. Not the Bank hacked

Another concept to get into is "card present" or "card not present". With "card present" you know that somebody had the actual card. That means mainly that the physical card was there and entered into a merchant terminal, or that something like 3DSecure was used. This is where you go to a Bank website and it sends an SMS to you with a One Time Password (OTP) and you enter that at the Merchant site. In this way we have what you know (card number, address, CVV etc) and the OTP which proves "you have" the SIM which is why it comes via SMS. So this is 2-Factor or Strong authentication and becomes equivalent to card present.

The reporting to the Thai police is a legal matter. Same if you lose you passbook which I have done many many times, which is embarrassing to admit. You have to legally report it as a fraudulent transaction. We can and we do block the card. But to refund the transaction we need a police report.

Hope this helps

Ian

May 4, 2021

This is something mentioned before in another post, and I am sure it will be offered by other Thai banks. But the convenience and immediacy of PromptPay is now extended to international payments, initially limited to just between Thailand and Singapore, but soon moving to other markets.

As with the International QR code payments between here and Vietnam, the BOT and Thai commercial banks are moving quickly to have the kind of convenience and affordability that other parts of the world can only dream of for international remittances. The FX rate will be excellent and the fees very low.

Take a look at our Website for a simple explanation of how this works on Mobile Banking. More countries to come, but I won't get into where and when because it is not my role to handle those kinds of communications. I am just a propeller head doing the actual execution of this stuff.

Enjoy

PromptPay International (bangkokbank.com)

April 27, 2021

Send me a message please. I will connect with you via my Bank email then I can get someone to help you

No need go to the branch now. Stay home and safe

April 24, 2021

OP

Please contact me if you need assistance with this

THanks

April 7, 2021

I see I am getting a lot of specific questions on our products and services. If you want an answer or help on a specific issue them PM me. I can then get an informed and trained person to answer you. Several TV users have done this just this week. If you have general comments, rants of critiques then it is fine to post them and we will see where we can improve or clarify misunderstandings. But this is not an official "channel" and you would honestly be better by calling 1333, going to a branch or sending an email to [email protected]

Sorry but I honestly do not have time to answer all such questions. I do, however, have time to route your issues to our internal resources, of which there are many. All far better at answering Branch or Product related questions than I

Thanks

March 25, 2021

PIB, just want to comment on what an amazing job you do explaining these things and taking the time to lay it all out clearly. Thank you sincerely for taking the time. You actually use these services and you know the ins and outs and I welcome your comments and criticisms

Thanks again for doing such a great job. I am a propeller head and I can explain the Tech stuff, but as far as the voice of the customer you are without equal

March 24, 2021

18 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

And the exchange rate is? And the Thai bank charge?

TransferWISE normally beats others that may have lower fees due to better exchange rate and no Thai bank charge as money is in Baht.

As I said before commissions, fees and rates are all involved so the best thing to do to understand exactly your effective rate is to divide the number of Baht you receive with the total you paid in USD including the amount transferred, fees and commissions. Then you know your actual Effective Rate. Many of the Retail products are not a good deal when you look at it this way, which is the only objective way to look at it.

I am absolutely not here to push our services. Just to answer questions when I have a spare 5 minutes waiting for a meeting.

March 23, 2021

Transfer money from the US to Thailand via Bangkok Bank’s New York branch

Foreign Remittance Service (bangkokbank.com)

March 23, 2021

3 minutes ago, ctxa said:

I understand this. Indeed when I first opened my accounts at Bangkok Bank I did bring the "reference letter" and it was opened without issues. Problems arose when every time I went to any branch to do just about any procedure (replace used up passbok, statements, replace debit card).... they would ask to see my passport and work permit, and then I would have a hard time explaining that I don't have a work permit because I don't need to because I don't work in Thailand. There was one time when they told me they couldn't do what I wanted because I had no work permit despite having an account with them and some money deposited with them.

Eventually I opened another account at Krungsri without work permit nor reference letter, and even applied a credit card with them without a work permit (I had to pledge a deposit obviously).

I am not saying Bangkok Bank is bad, far from it. My banking experience with them was exceptional, the only thing I can complain is that dealing with them in person was a waste of time because of the issue of me not having a work permit, and also communication issues given that I don't speak Thai.

Thanks for the response.

I will get back to the forum on if this is still a compliance issue. If it is clearly we need to adhere to it and can't comment on other banks not doing so.

FYI, I am a Senior EVP. I have PR But I still sign tens of copies of my passport every year in this country. Even in the Bank.

March 23, 2021

1 minute ago, Surelynot said:

Believe me....freezing....and I am from the UK!!!!

We have 1,200 branches in Thailand. Which one in particular are you complaining about?

March 23, 2021

7 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

Do you know why the branches are kept so cold?

The poor girls working in my branch have to wear coats...seriously ...it must also cost a fortune.....

If we go and think there we might have to wait we take jumpers.

Now that is one I have no idea about. Don't seem cold to me. But I am rarely in a branch

March 23, 2021

Sorry if we disappointed you. I will give them the feedback

I run all the Digital stuff so I am not directly involved in the Branches, but one of my peers runs the Branches nationwide and I will bring this to her attention.

A quick update on this. My understanding is that the requirement for a "reference letter" for a new account is a regulation and not something at our discretion to ignore. I will double check on that to ensure that is still current, but that is where this came from. Here is the link to our website

Savings Account (bangkokbank.com)

March 22, 2021

I'm an officer of Bangkok Bank and I recommend the Be1st Smart TPN MasterCard for anyone who travels abroad. The UP card is fine if you never leave Thailand or travel in Asia.

UP is more and more accepted overseas, particularly if you mainly travel in Asia, but just in case I would recommend the MC

PM me if there are still questions. Thank you

Be1st Smart Cards (bangkokbank.com)

March 18, 2021

10 hours ago, ukrules said:

Perhaps the central bank should issue their own digital 'internet age' currency.

There's still time to be the first country in the world to do this.....

My prediction - they will do nothing, someone else will do it (like this one) and there's nothing they can do to prevent it or prevent people from using it.

The Thai Central Bank does have Project Inthanon which is a Digital Currency tied to the THB and is in fairly late stage trials. This is all public. This is not for use by Consumers or Business but is for realtime gross settlement between banks. Not something for you guys to all have to understand, but the fact is that Thailand is actually on the forefront of this, not lagging.

They are working with the leading Thai banks and the R3 Distributed Ledger company. I am involved and I can answer questions offline. The Bank of Thailand is also working with the HKMA (Hong Kong Monetary Authority) to integrate Inthanon with Lionrock (the HKD effort for a Digital Currency). These things are moving along nicely.

The BOT has a lot of smart people. We are fortunate to have them serving the country. While I know many on this forum like to beat up everything Thai, you could not be more mistaken. Here is a link to read up on it. PM me if you want more info. I will share what is public.

The outcomes and findings of Project Inthanon-LionRock and the Next Steps (bot.or.th)

March 17, 2021

We put this together some years ago to answer the questions regarding the purchase of a Condominium in Thailand. We hope this makes it easy to understand what is and what is not required. While we would love your business, much of this applies no matter which bank you use.

I attach both the PDF and the link to our Website. We have many tens of thousands of expat customers. Your business is always appreciated.

PDF for Web BBL (bangkokbank.com)

Ian

BuyingCondo (1).pdf

March 17, 2021

We are required to restate and to ask customers to confirm the T&C's periodically. This is not optional for a Bank. If we did not do we would be out of compliance.

So this activity is considered to be "non discretionary".

March 2, 2021

OP

This is not a large amount of money. The company you send "from", TW or a local bank, will ask you for details of where you got the money from. We - Bangkok Bank - will go through our standard compliance checks to ensure you are not on any watch lists and that there are no malicious players in the chain. I won't go into it all, but because we have so many overseas operations, we have to meet the requirements not just of Thailand but of other countries (we are in the UK and the US for example). So full checking for things like OFAC in the US are performed. Being next to Myanmar we have some transactions which are valid but which deal with a country on the watch list for example because Thailand has a lot of valid business operations with its neighbor to the West.

And as others have said here, this is the kind of transactions literally done thousands of times a day into and out of Thailand.

TW is a retail service, so I question sending a large sum using their spreads, but that is really up to you. Apart from that they are highly reputable and reliable.

Thanks

Sign In

Events

Forums

Downloads

Quizzes

Gallery

Blogs

Posts posted by ianguygil

ASEANNOW

MORE INFO

POPULAR AREAS

CONTACT US